As It Is

keeping touch, mobile digital art, 2019

Have you ever experienced something significant—either a moment of wonder and awe or something so dark and tragic—that you couldn’t fully verbalize it, yet felt it deeply in your core? I suspect most of us have.

We are so accustomed to language and words that it is difficult to imagine a time in our history that preceded them. During that era, consciousness likely functioned similarly to how it does today, yet it was tethered to pre-verbal expression. How did our ancestors, 100,000 or 200,000 years ago, communicate, cooperate, and express themselves without formal language? Clearly, they were remarkably successful—thriving and gradually dominating creatures far larger and stronger than themselves. This success suggests a profound level of non-verbal coordination. How deep were their interpersonal connections, and did they experience emotions similar to our own? Did they suffer more or less in their shorter lifespans than we do now? Perhaps they were more attuned to body language, gestures, and primal sounds, remaining far more attentive to their surroundings than modern Homo sapiens. Survival requires them to be intensely present in the moment—a stark contrast to modern life, where one can be perpetually distracted or disconnected and still survive, albeit while enduring or causing internal and external suffering.

A fish in water cannot perceive the sensation of “wetness” because it has never experienced anything else; it lacks the external perspective necessary for comparison. Similarly, Michael Pollan explains the inherent difficulty in exploring the origins of consciousness: we can only study it from within a conscious state. To fully evaluate any entity, one must maintain a distance to observe it as a whole. It is unclear how we might step outside of our own consciousness to study the phenomenon objectively. Yet, as Pollan suggests, the journey is not futile; his work provides fascinating insights into these boundaries of understanding.

If consciousness predated verbal expression, we must wonder: did we lose essential qualities of perception as we evolved into language-dependent beings? Can we retrieve those original capacities for attention in this hyper-verbal, overthinking age? In other words, is it possible to see the world as it truly is, rather than how language has filtered and distorted it?

There are many questions and few definitive answers. Perhaps the goal is to stay with the inquiry itself. It is perfectly fine to simply not know.

A World Appears—A Journey into Consciousness, by Michael Pollan (2026)

Basel Al-Aswad, father of EIL founder Christopher Al-Aswad, is a yogi trapped in an Orthopedic Surgeon’s body. His loves in life include reading, writing, hiking, enjoying nature, meditation, and spending time with his large Iraqi family; now, semi-retired, he is exploring new avenues in medicine, education, public speaking, teaching, and social engagement.