I find this just as intriguing as you do! I wouldn't say that our conciousness was given to us by a higher being, but more that we gave it to ourselves. How do we even know that this is some special ability? Is there really a "special" in this universe? According to Grant Bertram, consciousness is not in the neutral state, since it is individual to everyone it cannot be proven to actually exist. Yet the idea of being conscious seems to be had by, I would say, pretty much all people. To quote Bertram on this:

"It is unseen and unheard by everyone but the thinker, tossed around and formed by shared realities and seen as a divine ability- because we made it such."

I personally don't think that we will ever get behind the secret of consciousness but that makes it even better to think about it anyway.