Bergson, Elan Vital, Solar Energy

Some passages in Creative Evolution suggest that 'Elan Vital' is nothing other than what is more commonly known as 'solar energy'. Bergson traces the transmission of the latter, from plants that store it up, often via animals, to humans, who have the capacity to 'turn heat into light'. Hence, his references to the illuminatory power of Consciousness can be taken literally. Now, in its purest mode, according to Bergson, Consciousness is Intuition, of which the Intellect is a derivative application, i. e. to Matter. Hence, not only does he, as he announces in the introduction to Creative Evolution, expose the inadequacy of the Intellect to Elan Vital, he demonstrates that Reason, i. e. the Intellect, is neither the most highly evolved nor the most spiritual power in nature. In the process, he, like Nietzsche, presents a naturalistic derivation of Reason, as well as a literal counterpart to Plato's heliotropism.