Isn't this more of a philosophy or (more specifically) metaphysics thing?

I think the closest you'll get to a non woowoo answer is that energy is finite, though at a scale of the universe it may not seem it. In any given system within that universe, be it a galaxy, a star system, a planet, a continent, a species, on down to proteins in a primordial soup, the ability to do rather than sit and be acted upon takes energy.

That energy comes from the outside, and is recycled.

Death is the great recycler. Decomposition in once living tissue is the process of returning the resources used back into the system.