Conscious awareness depends on our survival. Without that genetic and conditioned reality, nothing exists.
Although the concept of survival is evident in a biological sense, it expands far beyond simple physical survival for the human being. The questions of psychological, emotional, intellectual and spiritual survival, as well as the overriding question of identity all play a role. Who is the 'me' that is fighting to survive? That is the existential question we struggle consciously or unconsciously to address.