It is very evident that the brain is directly and entirely linked to various perceptions. This is very different from the quality of that perception being created (AKA not caused, but generated) by the brain, and also very different from the brain producing consciousness as opposed to causing the process of it to happen...
Let's make one thing obvious and clear and everyone can agree: Consciousness does not end when death happens. You probably have relatives who died, and yet consciousness remains in you... So what is being argued really is an individual personal consciousness vs a sort of singularity of consciousness which witnesses our individual minds.
Let's make another thing clear: There is a vast difference between attempting to discuss a sort of consciousness-substance, or soul, vs the PROCESS of consciousness. This is also in all mystic tradition, the state of "wakefulness" (this is defined medically as "conscious") is differentiated from, for example, deep sleep or being comatose.
So when you have a discussion like this, you need to understand what consciousness even is, and decide on pursuing a substance or process. And also whether you pursue a personal consciousness substance or a singular shared consciousness (usually regarded as without attribute).
If you are not schizophrenic, it is VERY unlikely you will come to mystic "awakening" via any means but altering your mind via drugs. Meditation only works for the mentally ill. By altering your brain, the aim is to shut off as many brain processes as possible while retaining memory functionality. The brain is evolved over hundreds of millions of years with one goal: Survive, replicate. Mystic awakening involves literally shutting down and surpassing all evolved survival traits like ego, so the brain needs to be heavily altered. Without this, understanding is extremely unlikely.
Here is what that looks like:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dryy3Ul_DWQGo to 3:20.
