We cannot conceive life without giving it the attribute of some sort of consciousness.

Hunger cannot be anything but conscious, and there is no other stimulus to eat but hunger.
"The crystals eat.

The extraction of power from food is conscious because it is purposeful, and there can be no purpose without consciousness; similarly the power to work from such derived energy is also purposeful and therefore conscious.

The crystals do both.

And the crystals can transmit all these abilities to their children, just as we do.