Pain demands "Attention", maybe is "All you Need" for "Action/Agency". Pain has a unique motivational quality that commands attention and drives behavior. This capacity to reorient an organism's priorities may have provided a foundation for how emotions and consciousness evolved.
Pain's origin as a vital, survival-oriented mechanism has been elaborated upon by evolution into a rich tapestry of affective states that not only protect the body but also shape the inner experience of the mind, from fear, to love.
What if "Consciousness" evolved because it was needed to handle pain and then developing fear, and anxiety as a side effect. If an organism could unconsciously withdraw from damage, why did it need to feel it?
Pain stands as the most elemental of all sensory experiences. It is universal across animals with nervous systems, immediate in its demand for attention, and profound in its capacity to alter behavior. Yet, it remains one of the most enigmatic phenomena in biology and neuroscience.