Consciousness is not merely a matter of molecules, neurons, and electric charges. In fact, it is consciousness that may be the basis for reality, and therefore of all things. What does it mean to be a "conscious" being. What is consciousness? Where does it come from? It is a gift from God, which along with emotions like love, ties together all life and all things and gives substance and fabric to being. Life and love are eternal, as are we. Perhaps this was best understood by the poet Alexander Pope centuries ago. Following are excerpts from Pope's Essay on Man, which discusses our relationship with God.

But all subsists by elemental strife;
And passions are the elements of life.
The general order, since the whole began,
Is kept in nature, and is kept in man.
...
Far as Creation's ample range extends,
The scale of sensual, mental powers ascends;
....
See, through this air, this ocean, and this earth,
All matter quick, and bursting into birth.
Above, how high, progressive life may go!
Around, how wide! How deep extend below?
...
All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body Nature is, and God the soul;
...
Love, hope, and joy, fair pleasure's smiling train,
Hate, fear, and grief, the family of pain,
These mixed with art, and due bounds confined,
Make and maintain the balance of the mind;
The lights and shades, whose well-accorded strife
Gives all the strength and colour of our life.
...
Look `round our world; behold the chain of love
Combining all below and all above.