511. But the fulfilment of those conditions is somewhat more difficult than the demand made on the automatic functions can achieve. And it is when the conditions are not fulfilled that the individual perceives the first form of that which we call "unpleasantness". There where the conditions are fulfilled the being notices the opposite, namely "well-being" or "pleasure".
      The plant being lives thus in a permanent existence between the "pleasant" and the "unpleasant". And here we come to the foundation for all thinking or creation of consciousness, for these two contrasts actually bring about in the being's consciousness that which we call "desire". Again, it is "desire" which constitutes an inward and outward flowing force known to us in life correspondingly as the concepts of "attraction" and "repulsion". A "plant being" is attracted to that which creates a sense of "pleasantness" and is repulsed by that which creates "unpleasantness". A plant's "sensing" gradually becomes so strong that it can send out its roots in the direction of underground water-courses and also bring its organism above ground towards the light and the sun. We see here the beginnings of the creation of the leading force in conscious life which, later on, will be found to be identical with what is called the "instinct of self-preservation". This is, again, the same as the physical life-function of the living being.