Consciousness

Consciousness is the realization of something. It is amazing how many things I can be aware of. Sometimes I doubt whether consciousness is not the same as thoughts: "I think I feel this, I think I realize that". But most of the time I understand that being conscious of something is really different from a thought. So what is conciousness? I do not know. Appearantly it is important when following Vipassana_Explanations#the_Path