If our universe is made of particles as a house is made of bricks, but by accident not design, then smashing matter apart should reveal fundamental particles, that aren’t made of other particles.
Yet particles, like chess pieces, just sit there until they are moved, rather than acting on their own. In contrast, ants placed on a chess board immediately start crawling about, so we call them entities that move themselves rather than particles that move only when pushed.
Is our universe then made of particles that move when pushed or entities that move themselves? A case can be made for the latter, as light always moves, as do electrons, and neutrinos that whizz about everywhere unseen. Photons, electrons, and neutrinos are all fundamental, so we seem to live in a world of active entities rather than passive particles.
Another contrast is that particles go where they are put but where a photon hits a screen isn’t defined only by the forces acting on it. It actually chooses where it strikes from the possibilities. Calling this random doesn’t disguise that the photon itself decides where it hits, as do electrons and neutrinos, so again they are more like active entities than passive particles.
Yet how can a universe be built from bricks that move themselves and choose where they go? The contrast is that it wasn’t built but evolved, based on its own nature. In this model, our universe of stars and galaxies began with one photon that led not only to others, but also to what we call matter. If so, our universe is more like a seed that grew than a house that was built, but what defined the nature of that seed?