It turns out that the ordinary, directly observable matter (stuff made of atoms, and their constituent particles) only accounts for less than 5% of all the mass-energy in the cosmos (mass and energy being equivalent through the famous e equals m c squared). About a quarter seems to be dark matter, and the rest goes into dark energy. In other words, we have not much of an official clue (yet) about what 95% of the cosmos is or appears to be made of. Most of the cosmos is still a mystery to us, despite massive advances (in terms of what humanity acknowledged as common, proven knowledge just a few hundred revolutions ago of our planet around its star).
Given this state of affairs, let's suppose, as a working hypothesis, that an underlying unifying awareness underpins all life-forms. Let's also assume that everything manifested (that makes itself noticeable through an effect of some sort in the observable universe) is alive, and quite possibly aware, to a certain degree.
Perhaps this "dark energy" that is currently imagined to spread uniformly across the cosmos is somehow correlated with a cosmic awareness field. Perhaps aware entities somehow create depressions in this awareness field through the flow of their life-force very much like mass creates depressions in space-time, and this in turn has an effect on space-time elements - which may account for some or all of the "dark matter" effects. This may also correlate well with the ancient concept of Qi - the life force of the cosmos.
In this context, imagine that stars are alive and maybe aware in a colossal way. Their rhythm of life is vast, spanning billions of rotations of their satellites. Imagine that galaxies are alive and aware as well - their lives spanning even longer than those of individual stars. Imagine galaxy clusters are alive and aware, their lives even longer than those of their constituent galaxies.
Just because we humans have vanishingly shorter life-spans when compared with planets, other celestial bodies, stars, galaxies, or galaxy clusters, I suggest we shouldn't rush to the conclusion that these much larger and apparently inanimate objects are devoid of any form of awareness or life.
I suspect that life is the norm in the cosmos rather than an exception. It so happens that most of that life vibrates on a different rhythm to the human cycles.
I wonder what shapes the perceptions and thoughts of our Earth. I wonder what the Sun dreams of. I wonder what is the nature of the concerns held by the Milky Way, if any. I wonder what the galaxies in the Local Group are chatting about, if anything resembling chatting is actually happening between them. I also wonder what the Virgo and Laniakea Superclusters are up to, and how their songs fit into the greater symphony of the cosmos.
I wonder what shapes the perceptions and thoughts of our Earth. I wonder what the Sun dreams of. I wonder what is the nature of the concerns held by the Milky Way, if any. I wonder what the galaxies in the Local Group are chatting about, if anything resembling chatting is actually happening between them. I also wonder what the Virgo and Laniakea Superclusters are up to, and how their songs fit into the greater symphony of the cosmos.
