. . I am quite aware of the concepts of Animism, mankind's first "religion". It holds that all things, from grains of sand on down, and up, have consciousness appropriate to their place, and that larger consciousness are built of smaller consciousnesses. This is as our consciousness is supported by a community of zillions of smaller critters with various degrees of independence, and consciousness. Even our individual cells are communities, containing critters with non-human DNA without which we could not live, as well as complex structures that do things for reasons unknown.

Science has shied away from consciousness, because it hasn't been able to measure it or adequately define it. It was formerly presumed that consciousness was the result of complexity. This is shifting. Some scientists, particularly the Quantum variety, are accepting the concept that complexity may be the result of the demands of consciousness, whatever that is.