I would like an argument please.

The question of what is consciousness is such a morass that most people don't even go there. But, it is a morass that I dearly love and identify with. I was born, raised and trained a materialist - that is the belief everything derives from a physical cause including consciousness which, in the materialist view, can be explained as an emergent property of the brain. However, my heart was never there, some how, I always believed there was more - God, and a united universal energy or force to which I belonged to be precise. I have been interested in the question of what is consciousness because for me it asks the question what is God? I have studied the philosophy and science of consciousness and for the longest time, to spite my hearts knowing, I was firmly rooted in the belief of a materialist universe.

My experiences as a hypnotherapist and healer over the last several years have opened my mind up to my heart again; but, I have yet to reconcile my philosophical and scientific understanding of this question.
Luckily it doesn't keep me up at night because I am a firm believer that reality is merely a perception anyway; so, when we don't know, we should chose a belief that supports our growth as human beings. So I choose to believe in the existence of universal consciousness to which I am a part. However, I am still nearly obsessively interested in the question of what is consciousness. If you are too, or if you think you can convince my materialist mind that there exists a higher consciousness or a personal consciousness that is separate from our brain, I would love to have that argument with you, and I would love to lose ;-).