No, Factor-x is not the enemy. Factor-x merely represents us—that is, each one who acknowledges their Factor-x—from a point in time when we were very young, possibly an age not older than around three to five years old, when we created Factor-x and got stuck in time as a survival mechanism against our environment. Our Factor-x was created from a belief that we are inferior, a belief we derived from the treatment we likely got from our supposed caregivers as described in the section “Factor-x and How It Comes About.” See or imagine Factor-x as a child, a young version of yourself that is holding your hand. That child wants to protect. That child has in its mind that it and you are in some danger, and wants to protect itself and you.
Each of our Factor-x’s wants to protect us from the world. But that child’s mentality is that of, say, a three-year-old, wanting to protect the older person, you, by now possibly an adult, a grownup with children, or even a grandparent. That child obviously doesn’t have the skills or maturity to do so, and is stuck in a figment of our imagination, not at all useful or helpful. In fact, quite the opposite. That child is, in most cases, steering us down paths we likely don’t want to go down. Paths we don’t even like.
It doesn’t know any better. We don’t know any better. So it’s best we don’t fight that part of ourselves and merely take it along on our journey, pointing out, accompanying and guiding it and ourselves along the way, sincerely, gently, with care and attention.
Once we see our Factor-x in this light, it might be easier to navigate our life without letting it get in our way. By accompanying that part of ourselves with care and attention, we are in a position to heal that child: to heal our Factor-x. As we heal it, it will likely grow up and accompany us with less and less interference in the sense of wanting to protect us. But keep in mind it is an immature child wanting to protect us, and that we created it at the time from a figment of our imagination.
It wants to do good. It wants to serve us. It is there for those purposes. But it doesn’t have the tools. It is ineffectual. It isn’t conducive. It is non-serving. Since it is a manifestation of our fear to be ourselves, it’s counterproductive in its endeavors to protect and serve us. In fact, it’s way off target. And for humankind, our collective Factor-x is, in essence, the creator of all the destruction we experience in and around us.
Interestingly, Factor-x is not the enemy, but it wreaks havoc as if it were.
What is required is that we expose, to us and to that part of ourselves, that Factor-x is the culmination of a figment of our imagination, and then intentionally uncover each layer of protection it has built over the years—the non-serving layers—so we and it can mature and see things the way they really are. Not the way Factor-x portrays them to us: from that child’s perspective, created from that figment of our imagination. Rather, recognizing things the way they really are. By seeing Factor-x in this light, although it wreaks havoc in our lives, it’s clear that it’s not the enemy, but a definitive part of us that needs care and attention and guidance to grow up and to mature.
