184. The plant's awake-consciousness is thus only on a spiritual plane. Therefore the whole of its physical existence is experienced, as mentioned before, only as a form of "sleep". This means that when the plant is resting its day-consciousness and is in a sleeping state, it is then that it develops its physical existence. Then it is that it helps in generating summer in the material world. There it works on the physical plane. The purpose of this work is to develop the plant's physical body so far that it can support consciousness or in other words, to make it day-conscious in the material world. And when it has come to this point, we see it no longer as "plant" but as "animal". When, on the other hand, the plant is awake, that is to say now in its day-conscious existence, we are seeing its physical life or appearance in most cases as an expression of a state of deathly calm, as is largely the case in winter. And then when its outer and inner conditions allow, it "falls asleep" on its own plane once more and during this sleep works further for a short time in its subconscious on perfecting its physical body in the direction of the animal kingdom, whereupon it again "wakes up" for a short while on its own plane and so on again and again successively. In this way on the plant's own plane of existence - the kingdom of instinct - its experience is created by alternating releases of a conscious and an unconscious existence. These alternating releases are again synonymous with the first elementary forms of rest and activity. When plants are in a kind of dormant condition during the winter, it means that their faculty of concentration of consciousness is withdrawn into their day-consciousness on the plane of instinct where their waking life functions, while their physical condition for consciousness is at rest. Just the contrary is the case when the concentration of consciousness is drawn into their physical bodies, bringing the latter to function and unfold, whereby it is the day-consciousness which is put to rest. But as the physical bodies are not yet developed enough to give plants an awake or conscious experience of life, that period where the concentration of consciousness is adjusted to their physical conscious life remains the same as "sleep". So we see that plant beings also have a sleeping and a waking consciousness. But while those beings are awake on the spiritual plane and asleep on the physical one, it is the opposite with animals, who are awake on the physical plane and are on the spiritual plane when they sleep. But this has its cause, for in the animal kingdom there occurs a turning-point in evolution. Gravity energy is actually the most material energy of all, whereas the other basic energies are of a more spiritual nature. Since the animal really constitutes a plant which has developed its gravity body - or physical body - so much that the latter can support day-consciousness, therefore the next body to develop should be a spiritual one. As this body is still unable to support consciousness and still appears as sleeping or subconscious, so, accordingly, the animal's subconscious must be unlike the plant's and be of a spiritual nature.