Just...Asking

What is sentience, self-awareness,
consciousness?  What is the
vastness of the Universe?  What
caused Nature?  What created thought?
What is the human mind?  How is it
that we are imbued with a sense of
enquiry?  Why were we the
chosen above all other organisms
to learn to dream and imagine,
to theorize and to experience, to
unlock so many of Nature's secrets
and call them scientific formulae?
What is sentience - an awareness
of the presence of a threat to 
survival?  What transcends instinct?
Which is of greater potential and
value; emotions or rational intelligence?
Why cannot they be wedded and
welded to reason, trust, verity?