Hi Malcolm,
Yes, the C-field gives phenomenal form to our individual empirical experience. It is the field that is self-aware, not the atoms or molecular systems moving in the field. It's aware of its existence and of changes in its local dynamics induced by local motion.
It is a primordial field, here since the beginning. My equations do not describe how self-awareness 'works', but how the field interacts with mass, including the equivalent mass of its own local energy density. Deciding that consciousness must be a field (circa 2006) I looked at known fields for clues to interaction; F=qE and F=mG seemed to imply a new 'stuff' F=iC, and I rejected the idea of new 'stuff', i. Next the Lorentz force F=qvxB of the magnetic field on charge suggested the analogous F=mvxC. This turned out to have the interesting properties that I was hoping for, so I explored these. Turns out that Oliver Heaviside wrote this in 1883, so the C-field is the 'magnetic-like' behavior of the gravitational field, operating on mass instead of charge. If you understand how the magnetic field acts on charge flow and how moving charge induces circulation in the local magnetic field, you understand behavior that is 3D and complex.
We know that the field exists (Gravity Probe B), but most do not realize that it is density that appears in the equation, and the density of an electron, say, is pretty high. The key difference with the electromagnetic field is that the E,B fields are uncharged, and hence do not interact with them-selves. The C-field has energy density, hence equivalent mass density, and thus interacts with itself. This is key to 'self-awareness' of the field. Changes in circulation are sensed and Lorentz-like forces are applied to local flows in the field. The universe is filled with gravitomagnetism, but the most interesting locations are those portions of the local field filled with dense biological complexity, whether living cell or brain. Here the constant flows maintain 'structure' including the type seen in Wolfram's graphs.
I assume it's like riding a bike, once the field masters local control of one axon, the trillions of axonal connections are there to be sensed and steered. And the field effectively assumes shapes sustained by local flows in the brain. [On exceedingly rare occasions I have 'seen' the 'shape' of music!]
In short, the behavior of this field is rich enough to accomplish the actions that we would want a consciousness field to possess. A major problem for Chalmers is that he thought physics is 'complete', and did not want to introduce new physical entities. The C-field has always been here, and is implied by Einstein's field equations, so we need not postulate new entities, only a new property, self awareness. The field is global and hence we don't have to wonder how one microtubule, say, in front of your brain can relate in any way to another in the back of your brain, or the trillions in between. Nor do we need ask how consciousness 'arose'. It was always here, but the complexity does evolve in Darwinian fashion.
Hope this answers some of your questions,
Edwin Eugene Klingman