Have you ever dived deep into your own thoughts about the universe, life, the whole idea of existence, what it all means and where we are headed? I am sure you must have and so have I. Quite a lot actually, as this is one of my most favourite topic to think and discuss about. And it has been our nature, as humans, from the very beginning to think about and make sense of all these mysteries.

I find it very interesting that during one of these “episodes”, we come up with so many ideas and theories to answer the most difficult questions. Our train of thoughts lead us to places we’ve never been before and turns us into the most short lived philosophers the world has ever seen!

In this post, I am going to talk about one of the most philosophically fascinating ideas about the universe. This is a theory that I personally have thought about long and hard and have read about on the internet and have also discussed it with friends.

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The Universe Is A Living Cell

I will try to make this as clear as possible. So, we have all learned in our biology classes that our bodies are made up of trillions of cells. In this theory, we are going to compare the whole universe to a single cell. It might seem moronic to compare the infinity that is the universe to a single cell that we can’t even see, but you’ll be shocked with the similarities!

First let me describe some key points about a cell. A cell is comprised of molecules. Molecules are made up of atoms and atoms consist of nucleus made up of protons and neutrons around which electrons revolve.

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Now, let’s look at the universe and try to compare it will the structure of the cell. The universe is made up of galaxies. Galaxies are made up of solar systems and solar systems consist of stars around which planets revolve.

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Notice the similarity? The universe is just a cell on a very grand scale. Scientists believe that the universe came into existence after a big bang and is currently in the expansion stage. But the time will come that the universe will perish either by collapsing or expanding too much. Similarly, a cell is born, it grows and one day it dies.

Now, coming to the real point I want to make. A living cell has billions upon billions of particles that know just what to do to keep the cell alive. It is a well oiled machine. It is a system. But the strange part is that these particles, in themselves are nothing but non-living elements. Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen and many other elements which are not “alive” come together to form something (a cell) that is seemingly “alive”.

Can’t this be true of the universe as well? On a grand scale, everything knows how to behave and exactly what to do too. Gases come together to form stars. Planets start revolving around the stars. When the time comes, everything knows the proper way to go. It is again, a well oiled machine where the parts involved have some sort of “intelligence”. It all seems programmed to some extent, doesn’t it?

This led me to think that maybe our universe is just a cell made up of all these smaller parts. Who knows it is just one of the trillion of other cells. Scientists are already starting to believe in a multiverse, so who know this might be true after all! It may also a raise a bigger question however, that if all the universes are like cells, who is the ultimate organism?

So, Where Do We Come In?

Let’s say, hypothetically, that the above theory is true. Then what happens to our identity? In my mind, if the universe is a cell, we are like bacteria inside that cell. Teeny tiny bacteria, roaming around minding our own business. The same happens inside the cells of our own bodies too. There are trillions of bacteria living in the cells of our body that are literally a part of us!

Fun Fact: There are more bacteria in our body than our own cells. So, you are not really even you. Go figure!

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