The transformation of the "plant" into the "animal"
1220. With the being's passage through the stage of the "carnivorous plant" its transformation or change from "plant" into "animal" begins. While its "will" existed previously only as an incipient feeling of attraction towards sensations of pleasure, this attraction begins here to become a conscious "exercise of will", which in turn gradually gives rise to the first feeble form of realisation that the plant itself can contribute or assist towards achieving "feelings of pleasure". It becomes increasingly conscious of the functioning of its tentacles. Since this new experience of consciousness is also "a sensation of pleasure", and a "sensation of pleasure" provokes an attraction towards the cause of the "sensation of pleasure", and in this case, in its ultimate analysis, this cause is the "sensation of pleasure" that holding the captured insects gives the plant being, additional energy is supplied to this already existing automatic holding of the insects. So the automatic attraction that the plant being already feels towards "sensations of pleasure" is stimulated here for the first time by "awake day-conscious forces". These incipient "awake day-conscious forces" are the beginnings of what we know as conscious "exercise of will". And the plant being is thereby no longer a "plant" but now constitutes an "animal".
Return to start page
Previous