Is the universe aware of itself?

Is the universe aware of itself?

---- Part of it is. (That aware part of the universe is us.)

If so, wouldn't that make the big bang more of a birth than a beginning?

---- Only if that aware part of the universe (us) was a direct result of the big bang...which it wasn't.

If the universe is aware of itself then it must have consciousness. I have contemplated this for some time and think we and other life forms perhaps give it consciousness. I do feel the universe is alive perhaps not life as we know it but alive just the same. Perhaps if/when it comes to realization it matures and and collapses into itself. As the mother of all black holes sucks everything into a new singularity and a new big bang is formed. Then the new expanding universe is born.

Yes, but not in the way you expect.

The universe is made of many autonomous parts. Life is a process in the universe. The human mind is a process of life. As long as the human mind is aware of the universe, that part of the universe is self-aware. The entire universe is not a living thinking thing, but some of its parts, in this case the humans, are the physical embodiment of the self-awareness of the universe.

Well...think of this: All the atoms that make up our body were at one time, billions of years ago, created in the hearts of long dead stars. Everything we are was once part of the larger universe. The fact that we can wonder about the universe means that there is at least a part of the universe that is aware of itself.

The fact that human beings are aware of the universe, and that humans are made of physical matter and energy, proves that at least a small part of the universe actually is aware of itself.

We know of only one manifestation of the universe that is aware of itself and that is some of the life on earth.

Conscious beings are a manifestation of the universe's awareness, just as the brain is awareness of yourself.

Are humans part of the universe? Clearly we are aware of it. Is this the beginning, the status quo, or the end state of consciousness?

Yea. I am not sure about the big bang being the birth though. The whole black hole in every galaxy changed my view a bit on the the creation of the universe.

Yes. We are the universe and I'm pretty sure we're aware of ourselves. We have yet to recognise the smallest building blocks of life... and who knows maybe they are intelligent?