To avoid entropy and so to avoid universal equilibrium you need an energy source. Our Sun does this in that the energy radiated is used on its way 'down' to entropy. There is an area inbetween 'too hot' and 'too cold' that is 'just right' for the development of life.
The process of energy radiating from a high to a low demonstrates a definite direction from an intense state (Sun)
to a diffuse state ('empty' Space). The energy source keeps us 'far' from equilibrium. Thus just as we humans intercept
electrons in the 'middle' of their journey from source to ground (high state to low, equilibrium state), so life
has intercepted the Sun's energy in the 'middle' if its journey from high energy to low.
If we review thinking processes as demonstrated by our neurology/psychology we see the SAME patterns at work in that what I call object thinking reflects 'Sun' processing in that this type of thinking is intense, manic, 'original', and being original becomes a source of intellectual energy.
It is often the case that the expression that comes from object thinking leads to analysis of that expression as we try to 'get behind' the expression to see it is repeatable/predictable. This analysis then acts to diffuse the original 'intensity' in that the original energy is dissipated. This dissipation manifests a conservation law in that the emotional energy in the original idea cannot be maintained, as analysis takes place and probable/potential becomes actual so the energy gets distributed.
This implies that over time the idea can become 'worthless' in that it is analysed to death and found to lack substance.
This flow process can be seen in the work of Freud and Charles Peirce where both emphasise (misleadingly -- see later) a trichotomy at work. For Freud it was "ID - EGO - SUPEREGO", for Peirce it was "FIRSTNESS - SECONDNESS - THIRDNESS".
Both these trichotomies emphasise moving from an intense, concentrated state (ID/FIRSTNESS) to a more context sensitive and so diffuse state (SUPEREGO/THIRDNESS).
If we analyse the neurology, psychology, we see hierarchy present in that the same movement occurs at all scales but we also see transformation at work in that from the SUPEREGO/THIRDNESS state can emerge 'new', intense, objects that are of a different scale to the original objects but take in the same patterns.
If we reflect on the entropy concept we need to include understanding of the fundamental equations dealing with
entropy, in particular those of Boltzmann and Shannon. The former related his equation directly to thermodynamics
where as the latter was concerned with information processing.
Boltzmann came up with the equation S = k log W, where S = entropy, W = probability of a given state, and k = a natural constant called Boltzmann's constant.
For Shannon the equation is Information = - log W.
These equations are of the same form since they concern the same method of determination, the use of logs of probabilites.
In the world of information theory that we work with, Boltzmann and Shannon recognised that entropy was another term for missing information. In this context, the more things heat up the more dynamic things become and so an increase in entropy due to the decrease in order.
In the human brain we sort of see this in that the object oriented world is highly ordered whereas the relationships oriented world, especially when it gets too dynamic, becomes increasingly disordered and so increasingly 'entropic'.
In this sense we lose precise quantitative information and have to rest on the use of precise qualitative information which is of course highly subjective. This manifests the distinction between a left brained square-wave format for information processing (i.e. correct/incorrect -- very digital) and a right brained fourier transform system that processes harmonics and in summing them gets ever closer to to square wave.
The fact that these equations exist, and the fact that we can see copies of the process in human thought, where the absolute rigidity of objects thinking gives way to relativist thinking of relational thinking and so an increase in 'noise' over 'information' demonstrates the existance of a definite path of that thought follows.
However, the difference in mind is that it is from the high entropy states that transformations take place and a 'new' level of order is established such that the process then starts all over again.
When we review the general information processing of the hemispheres of the neocortex we find that the left is more attuned to processing the KNOWN and the right is more attuned to processing the UNKNOWN and so dealing with 'missing' information.
If we review the development of our species we seem to reverse the order-disorder format in that taking data from 'out there', the universe 'as is' and then painting it with meaning moves us from 'disorder' to 'order' whereas for the universe so ANY subjective element must manifest 'entropy' since it is, to the universe, useless.