Who Is the Agent?

The focus of this chapter is on the potent illusion that we are in control of ourselves. I relate some experiences of blind-sight during my recovery from a cerebral haemorrhage in order to illustrate a consideration of conscious­ ness and will. I argue that consciousness is an evolutionary side effect, a form of real­time imagination, through which we have developed the sym­ bolic attributes fundamental to humanity, but this does not provide control. In the same way that control of mind over body in the individual is an illu­ sion, so is the control of senior management over the organisation.