surgical removal of the corpus callosum —
the “wide thick nerve tract connecting the left & right
cerebral hemispheres” — alleviated epilepsy
& also exposed the apparent existence of a second
though speechless self
every time you dither
consider your second self
might epilepsy be the frenzy of too much choice?
in one case the speaking self refused to name
his girl friend, whereas the non-speaking self
wrote down her name
if a second self exists
we must be a committee
neither self is first nor second, they must be peers
go to town or stay at home
eat lunch or drink beer
read a book or sing a song
the one that speaks merely voices the decision
is morality
the voice of our better self? our noisier self?
think about postmortems
pleasure or pain
gain or loss
why would one self be “better” than the other?
surely either self can take either side
what if we were to acknowledge our second self?
if both selves could speak, & simultaneously
would we be able to make decisions?
imagine if we had three cerebral hemispheres
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