What exactly is consciousness?

I was thinking, in the shower (because this is where I do most of my thinking), about consciousness. I've read many opinions on what we are in terms of chemical and electrical reactions. Our thoughts, decisions, actions; they're all based on chemical and electrical reactions in our brain. Does it come right down to that? A chemical reaction? My conscious thought, my intellect? It's a chemical reaction? Though it makes sense to me that this is all that it may be, I cannot quite accept that. I cannot accept that my being is simply a series of electrical pulses shooting between different synapses, of different chemical compounds interracting between each other. Well, I can accept it but I don't want to.

There are different philisophical thoughts about how we perceive reality. But how do we perceive ourselves? What is it in our minds that creates who we are? Is the statement, "I think, therefore I am" (I haven't studied Descarte to any degree. Yet.) valid? Or should it be, "I am, therefore I think"? In this statement, it is perceived that one exists and in one's existence, one is made up of chemical compounds that create the stimulus to think, process thought and perceive our own reality. Reality isn't the same for everyone. It can even be said that two people can perceive the same color differently. Neither are incorrect in their assessment. But it's still the same color.

I'm thinking as I write, so I apologise if things aren't so coherent. Again, as with so many other writings, it makes sense in my head.

The question still remains: is our consciousness simply chemical reactions within our brain that gives us intelligence, reason, thought and awareness? When we die, will that simply end? So far, with my belief system, I would have to say yes. I was not conscious before I was alive. I dare say I will not be conscious after my death. That is where I seem to have my difficulty. I will not be conscious after I am dead.

Maybe this is one of the true reasons why no one wishes to not believe in an afterlife or a deity. It is because they don't want to realise that life is a big waste of time (a waste of time in the sense that it is all for naught; that no matter what we do, we still die), that there really is no cosmic, grand scheme to it. We make our own purpose, we make our own reason, we justify our own life. This isn't a pessimistic thought. It is simply the way it is. To me. My reality. Yours may be different.

And I've gone terribly off tangent. But one can definitely see how my thought process works.

A haiku for your enjoyment:

Reality bites
Consciousness notwithstanding
Purple is not blue