Core, khora, bastard reason and zombies

Recall this post noting that the core self is accessed during meditation, as it let's go of autobiographical self and processes in the present only. Still, it is a conscious 'self.' I also noted this core self can be contacted by other means, like ritual or ceremony. Hence the often numinous experiences people have during such religious ceremonies. This was confirmed on p. 170 of Self Comes to Mind when he observed that day-dreaming can take us to this core self, providing a temporary respite from the narrative self. In this light also recall this post on Derrida's 'bastard reasoning,' wherein I intuited that it too, like meditation, was a vehicle to this core (khora).

Also of relevance to recent inquiry is how self-consciousess requires as prerequisite, yet is an emergent advancement on, our 'minds.' Damasio said in SCM on p. 176: “The difference between life regulation before consciousness and after consciousness simply has to do with automation versus deliberation.” The latter simply “moves the whole game up a notch.” Hence it is easy to see why our earlier zombie programs dominate much of our time. This does not however reduce consciousness to them, that the latter can indeed, and does, assert some control and focus to those lower processes, eliciting them to motivate and enact our long-range plans and goals. And still accepting the fact that the zombies are in charge much of the time and that it is necessarily so. They just need a little guidance every now and again.