Another useful metaphor that doesn't cross the threshold from human experience into the "experiencing" that non-living things do, would be chemotaxis.
A bacterium finds food with a simple set of states. At it's most basic:
- you are experiencing an increasing concentration of food. you keep swimming straight ahead.
- you are experiencing a decreasing concentration of food. you move in a continuously randomized direction.
this eventually gets them onto a track where they are moving towards food.
Extremely simple like a thermostat, yet effective.