Will the real World please stand up??

Have you ever considered how we know about the real world that we live in? Let me share how I worked it out for me.

We take in input through the senses.. all 5 of them.
The input from any one of these senses connects to the brain and triggers a reaction which involves electrochemical and neurological responses. And the first one is.. do I fight or flee? Do I like it and embrace it or do I reject it because it might be harmful to me..and I run like blazes. This experience goes to the brain where a special part of the brain perhaps we call mind gives meaning and value to this experience and stores it for future consideration.

This whole process involves consciousness. As far as I know this does not go on during an unconscious state. Although there may be some states of consciousness, altered states, where this process or something like this does go on.

So we are conscious of this world and those things in it. What is consciousness then? Is it awareness?
But that doesn't seem to be an inclusive enough idea. So my definition above of the sense receptors and the interaction with the brain/mind seem to be a good enough starting point.

Then we have emotions.. these are the responses to those sense stimuli. When we are delighted with the result we smile.. when we get a distasteful result we frown or cry or some other way show our disapproval. So we always see the result of consciousness, emotion and the like but it is difficult if not impossible to measure in the way that other variables are measured like weight and height and so forth. Could it be that is because these things are energy and do not have mass or weight. Has anyone measured the speed of a thought or the weight of a smile?

It is accepted in physics that energy can never be created nor destroyed but must always be conserved.
What happens to that energy associated with the living processes when we die.. when consciousness leaves for good?

Well now readers.. let me have your thoughts on this as we forge ahead with that focus next week. Click on the comment tab and let me hear from you..