Is There a Consciousness?

Many of us are walking around with this conceit that we're a monster. To threaten that is also threatening because as you just very eloquently stated, it raises the question, well, who the hell am I then? Right. What you're pointing to in a way and this is part of Buddhist teachings is that conceit doesn't have to do with positive or negative. Any threat to our beliefs is a threat to our stable sense of self. We just really want to hold steady to what we think we are.