Twitch, Village Girl and Jgnat, you've got it nailed.
I asked:
What makes you a living thing? As is opposed to a dead thing? What makes living things live? What makes them alive verses dead?
Twitch answered my question when giving a copy and paste definition from a dictionary.
1 : an animating or vital principle held to give life to physical organisms
I like this following definition as well.
1. having the power of sense perception or sensation; conscious
Sentience is a very good word for conscious, perceiving awareness.
--from Twitch's definition:
4 : the immaterial intelligent or sentient part of a person
VG, your post number 946 is insightful.