Consciousness is a property we ascribe to our own awareness of our awareness. As we are part of the universe, if consciousness is a thing, it is then a property of the universe, not just the human mind.

The human mind is a plastic, adaptive system, which is shaped by senses that consume the universe and which attempt to model the universe. It is past and present interlocked - causality, bound up in tight knots of matter.

This is the universe, being aware of itself. It is perhaps not capable of being understood, just reveled in.