Stimulus-Response Gap
Stimulus-Response Gap
[STIM-yoo-lus rih-SPONS gap]
Viktor Frankl (1946): 'Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.' Adapted in Gnostic contemplative practice as the operational location of the [Sacred Pause](/en/lexicon/sacred-pause).
The stimulus-response gap is Viktor Frankl's name for the interval between a stimulus hitting the nervous system and the body's reaction firing. Gnostic practice treats this gap as the operational location of the Sacred Pause — the neurological terrain on which conscious choice is either restored or surrendered.
Definition
The neurological interval between a stimulus reaching the nervous system and the reaction completing — the window in which deliberation, inhibition, and reframing remain available before automaticity closes the door.
Origin
Frankl articulated the principle in Man's Search for Meaning (1946) as a distillation of what he observed in the camps: the man who can locate the gap retains a kind of freedom no captor can remove. Contemplative neuroscience later mapped this gap onto concrete physiology — vagus nerve tone, prefrontal cortex engagement — which is why breath practices reliably widen it.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What does Stimulus-Response Gap mean in Contemplative psychology?
Stimulus-Response Gap (Contemplative psychology): Viktor Frankl (1946): 'Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.' Adapted in Gnostic contemplative practice as the operational location of the [Sacred Pause](/en/lexicon/sacred-pause).. A Body as Temple term from the Pleroma Gnosis Lexicon.
What is the origin of Stimulus-Response Gap?
Viktor Frankl (1946): 'Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.' Adapted in Gnostic contemplative practice as the operational location of the [Sacred Pause](/en/lexicon/sacred-pause).