Entropy. The second law of thermodynamics. Things naturally change from a more-ordered state into a less-ordered state.

Energy is required to reverse this process. All the processes you describe are putting things into a more-ordered state and thus, require energy in some form.

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.

Carl Sagan: 'If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.'

The meaning of PERQUISITE is a privilege, gain, or profit incidental to regular salary or wages; especially : one expected or promised.

Did you mean prerequisite?

Regardless, not everything is bound by mortality. Or even decay, if you generalize to nonliving things. A rock will remain a rock, unless acted upon by an outside force. But at most scales, everything is experiencing the movement of energy around the universe from the original big bang, and at different scales you see this energy move in cycles, like plants and animals being born and dying, or a comet orbiting through the solar system.