512. A function of life of this kind is entirely built up from the being's desire for a release of such constellations of energy or contacts with matter which are pleasurable to itself. By releasing attraction for some energies and repulsion for others, the I obtains a certain domain within matter, that is to say, in the area of the I's manifestation there is an accumulation of substances, or a combination of energies or matter. This combination of matter constitutes the I's physical body. This body thus represents only the permanent reaction, or effect of the I's attraction or repulsion concerning particular energies of definite kinds. This is apparent in its tiny beginnings during the being's mineral and plant states, taking place to a large extent through "C knowledge", that is, through an automatic function inherited from a previous spiral. But by virtue of the constant interaction with the energies and the resulting effect of the special abilities of reaction possessed by these energies, then, as mentioned before, the "consciousness of sensing" is awakened. The individual's "sense" about which energies are pleasant and which are unpleasant with regard to its own manifestation in life, grows stronger and stronger until "sensing" finally becomes "certainty", that is to say conscious "thought". And at this point the automatic attraction and repulsion of matter has become "thought". The being is beginning to "think". And with the commencement of the attraction and repulsion process at this stage, the being is no longer simply a "plant", but has become an "animal". The "animal" is thus the first "thinking" being in the spiral. The "thinking", therefore, is, of course, very elementary in this being and is at its first embryonic stage. The being is still living to a great extent on "instinct", which is indeed the same as "conscious sensing", that is the "plant consciousness" and the automatic function on which it is based and which continues to exist in the "animal".