consciousness

n. awareness of one's surroundings; cognition, ability to perceive

Consciousness is a characteristic of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and one's environment. It is a subject of much research in philosophy of mind, psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science.
See more at Wikipedia.org...

Consciousness /con·scious·ness/ 1. the state of being conscious. 2. subjective awareness of the aspects of cognitive processing and the content of [more]Consciousness - Community and Resources

Noun
1. an alert cognitive state in which you are aware of yourself and your situation; "he lost consciousness"
(antonym) unconsciousness
(hypernym) cognitive state, state of mind
(hyponym) stream of consciousness
2. having knowledge of; "he had no awareness of his mistakes"; "his sudden consciousness of the problem he faced"; "their intelligence and general knowingness was impressive"
(synonym) awareness, cognizance, cognisance, knowingness
(hypernym) knowing
(hyponym) self-awareness
(attribute) aware(p)

(n.)
The state of being conscious; knowledge of one's own existence, condition, sensations, mental operations, acts, etc.
  

(n.)
Immediate knowledge or perception of the presence of any object, state, or sensation. See the Note under Attention.
  

(n.)
Feeling, persuasion, or expectation; esp., inward sense of guilt or innocence.