Polycephaly

"Polycephaly is a condition of having more than one head.

The term is derived from the stems poly- meaning 'many'

and kephal- meaning "head"."

-- Wikipedia

Little known fact: I think I suffer from polycephaly.

Oh sure, it sounds like it would be useful.

Think of all the advantages to having an extra head:

two brains to contemplate life's challenges;

another tongue to taste all of the bountiful pleasures at our disposal;

four eyes to navigate the world's adventures, not to mention to watch your back at all times;

an extra set of ears to hear the all of our earth's many secrets.

There is no doubt that two heads (or more for that matter) could make a huge difference in our day to day performance.

However, it seems to me that this polycephaly that I deal with is either of a different calibre than the productive version, or I must have missed the memo on how to use it effectively.

Yes, instead of having a more ideal world, my two-headedness has only created problems for me.

Instead of two brains to contemplate life's challenges, I seem to have two critical brains:

one of which will shut off at the slightest hint of a challenge, and the other that is ready to pick a fight with a dying grandmother over the type and colour of yarn she's using to knit her great-granddaughters socks, resulting, no doubt, in a fight to the death, since there is no reasoning with someone who will fight with a dying grandmother over something so trivial.

In lieu of another tongue to taste all of the bountiful pleasures at our disposal, it would seem I have only another tongue [to attempt] to tame.

Rather than four eyes to navigate the world's adventures, I seem to have four eyes that are ready to see that fault of every action I make.

In place of an extra set of ears to hear all of our earth's many secrets, I find that my extra pair only manages to hear whispers of worthlessness, failure, and cut-throat remarks that lurk behind the slightest hint of any condemning tone.

Why is it that I have such a hard time making sure that my head is working the way that God intended? Why is it that I feel a war raging between two selves that exist inside of me?

For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

//romans 7.22-25//esv