If the Earth were a hydrogen atom, and I looked out from my window at the electron whizzing past in the air above, I might be tempted to think that this was all there was. After all, I wouldn’t know there was anything else. If then, we invented telescopes and I could suddenly see other hydrogen atoms circulating in the space above me, I would be in awe. Surely then, I would reason, this must be proof of life elsewhere, similar to ours? Eventually, I might detect huge, distant bursts of energy, and find that all of the hydrogen atoms, including ours, are moving along translational pathways towards unknown destinations. Of course, I would still have no idea why any of this was happening, but I might be tempted to believe this was evidence of a life force greater than ours. I would be oblivious to the fact that I might actually be a hydrogen molecule within a dandelion leaf, that was about to be eaten by a rabbit, who would itself be consumed by a human being. 

That is fictional, of course, but it illustrates the point that we cannot be restrained by the limits of what we know. For example, how likely is it that the Earth, being part of such a vast, flowing, cosmological system, the scale of which we can only imagine, is not part of something greater? Is it likely that millions of galaxies are flowing along a vast network that resembles rivers and basins, for no reason or purpose, or is it likely that it does have a function we have not yet ascertained? The probability of Earth being all there is, is getting remoter with each new cosmological discovery. It may be beyond our capacity to know or understand fully what that is, but I think it likely that the universe is a living organism. This is because the universe is an evolving, energetic, vigorous organism, that behaves in ways strikingly similar to life. It has organised itself into a vast complex structure, and it exchanges energy and matter along huge galactic filaments. Whether it is self-aware, conscious, or evolving like an organism remains an open question. What is certain, however, is that the universe is not just a load of empty space, and that we are part of something much greater than we could have ever imagined.

Source: is the universe alive?