Sybe07 said: “Can we say that due to sankhara we operate in a re-active way? In a certain sense we are at that time not really ourselves. Our behaviour is just habitual, conditioned, like an animal or machine.”
This is a critical point that I have been trying make all this time. See, “Sankhāra – What It Really Means” and “Correct Meaning of Vacī Sankhāra“. Please read the posts that I recommend carefully, and ask questions from there if something is not clear. It is important to understand what is meant by each of the Pali words mano, vaci, and kaya sankhara.
The way we first react (automatically) to situations is habitual and are based on our gati/asavas. The thoughts that are habitually and automatically generated are mano sankhara. We don’t have control over them DIRECTLY.
However, we do have control over vaci and kaya sankhara that are associated with our conscious thoughts (talking to oneself), speech, and bodily actions.
When we start acting mindfully (Anapana and Satipatthana), and catch any “wrong/immoral thoughts that arise”, and willfully control our vaci and kaya sankhara, our gati/asavas will change for the better. That in the long-temr will lead us to respond automatically the right way, i.e., mano snakhara will change accordingly. That is how we make progress on the Path.