somebody will argue that consciousness was there first and the whole body + brain is actually kind of a dream ...

(not how i view it though. i have a different answer)

my answer is that consciousness does not emanate from the brain at all, but from the fact that we are alive. in other words, i believe that consciousness is a property that many or all forms of life have evolved to have because/as long as it is advantageous to them. this view is called "existentialism" btw. things derive from the fact that we exist (as living beings).