"Consciousness," although challenging to define, can be thought of as a first-person awareness of one's surroundings and oneself. You sense the world through your eyes, nose, ears and hands, and track your internal bodily states via interactions between your cells. These data streams collide to give rise to your personal perception of the world, your place within it, and your motivations for moving through it.
An enduring question about consciousness is how this state of awareness comes about. Is consciousness simply the result of a bunch of chemical reactions? Or is there some extra "secret ingredient"?
