sentience

(noun) state of elementary or undifferentiated consciousness. Synonyms: awareness. Example: "The crash intruded on his awareness."

(noun) the faculty through which the external world is apprehended. Synonyms: sense, sensation, sentiency, sensory faculty. Example: "In the dark he had to depend on touch and on his senses of smell and hearing."

(noun) the readiness to perceive sensations; elementary or undifferentiated consciousness. Example: "Gave sentience to slugs and newts"- richard eberhart."