I know I'm a "living sustem" because . . .

This is a tough one. I automatically want to start listing the characteristics of life as presented from anatomy/physiology that describe metabolism. I don't think that's true. I know I'm a "living system" because I feel connected to a larger system, and I know that I am comprised of smaller systems. It's kind of like that fractal thing. I am a system that has a likeness to a larger system that I help compose. Likewise to all the tiny living systems that compose me, that are similar to me. Of course I feel as though everything is part of this system and the living system I am, since we are all made up of the same stuff. All that universal dust and stuff that swirled around and made up everything that is in our Universe. Every particle is a part of that "living system", as am I. Of course, I can always just say that I know I'm a "living system" because I metabolize. So what . . . that's just the function of my form. Every form has it's function.