Consciousness is present in all things because all things are a product of consciousness. That is, of course, what subjective reality is all about. If one believes in an objective universe where this was all created out of nothing and the laws of evolution determine our destiny, then it will remain quite difficult, if not impossible, to ever accept the notion that a dog, a fish, or a tree also has consciousness, let alone a rock or a molecule of Polonium 210.
Self-awareness to the extent that humans experience it is but a product of brain complexity and function. When anything is wired to the point where it can record and preserve memory of its experiences within its physical form, I believe that is the point at which so-called self-awareness happens.
Imagine yourself existing not here on the physical plane, but on the other side where you are all thought and energy. You decide to incarnate for a short time as a pheasant for your own reasons. Because a pheasant's brain lacks the capacity for holding much, if any, contemplative memory functions, your "self-awareness" will be quite limited. Does that mean that the essence of you is not still consciousness? Or does it mean that experiencing the universe as a pheasant yields information from a completely non-human point of view? Some people, in fact, have great difficulty telling the difference between pheasants and humans. (see Dick Cheney.)
What about Alzheimer's patients who lose their ability to record/retrieve their memories, and seem to live now only in the present. Have they somehow "devolved" to lesser forms of intelligence and consciousness? Of course not. It's clearly a physical handicap, and we recognize that they remain the same conscious being we've always known. They are simply limited in their interactivity with the physical universe by "faulty wiring."
If you wish to experience a more limited self-awareness without reincarnating as a pheasant or otherwise, it's not hard to do. Drink enough alcohol and you'll start to understand how the less-intelligent creatures perceive their environment. Your dreaming ego is another example of limited self-awareness. Would you ever say that it wasn't "you" that experienced the dream? And yet, while experiencing the dream -- unless you are lucid dreaming -- you are completely unaware of your other reality with all its history and memories, etc. The memories of the dream are fleeting and do not record into your physical brain at all unless you awaken during the dream, and then only fragments unless your waking ego makes a real effort to commit them to memory. But you were still conscious and self-aware during the dream, at least of your dreaming self, that is.
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