Natural Selection Seems Insufficient

[Angrboda]

Assorted questions:  Can things be more than the sum of their parts?

If not, how did God's nascent consciousness improve itself?

If so, can a sum made up of dead particles be greater than the dead particles themselves?  If so, what prevents abiogenesis or consciousness evolving?

Consciousness is a mystery filled with an amazing variety of experiences such as:
- Self-awareness
- Taste, touch, smell, sight, sound, vision
- emotions
- humor 
- perception of beauty
- conscience
- memory
- free will

I don't know why anything exists. It's a mystery. Similarly, I don't know why consciousness exists, and why it offers such a rich/diverse variety of experiences.

SIMILARLY, to answer your question, I don't know why it can develop, that is, I don't know why each of the experiences in the above list can become more acute/ distinct over time.
That's part of the mystery.

But for me, an increase in acuteness is a possibility easier to swallow than the whole notion of dead particles transitioning to consciousness, PRECISESLY  because consciousness is so rich/ complex/ involved. 

Just my opinion, I can't prove it.

Consciousness at one end of the scale is complex, how simple can it be at the other end? You've already admitted that a dead particle, a rock, possesses the attribute, so there really is no gap that is insurmountable in either case. A dead particle, in your view, has the potential for the full complexity at the other end of the scale. So where is your objection rooted? You seem to have eliminated the obstacle.

Just as a side note. Incredulity seems to do a lot of work for your worldview. Is that wise?