ABSTRACT
The prototype of reaction could be seen in the mechanism of splitting and projection which characterizes inchoative vicissitudes, while the prototype of psychic action can be regarded as an inner initiative which does not succumb to reactive mechanisms and which leads to paradox and creativity; it leads to a condition for action proper ± action for something. Through reactions we illusorily `think' that we may become free from something. Reactions share the characteristics of being quasi-`automatic', of being psychic mechanisms of remedy or revenge, of being non-responsible responses. We thus envisage a gradient between the two opposite poles of freedom-from and freedom-to.
