Closed systems tend to wear down and give off energy that can never be retrieved. This is a result of the workings of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. In classical thermodynamics, equilibrium is the end state in the evolution of closed systems, the point at which the system has exhausted all of its capacity for change (Wheatley, 2009). Entropy is an inverse measure of a system's capacity for change. The more entropy there is the less the system is capable of changing. So, at equilibrum, the system can produce nothing more.
If the universe is a closed system, it must eventually reach equilibrium. As the scientist Peter Coveney states "it will become a place where entropy and randomness are at their greatest in which all life has died out." The most obvious exception to this law is life. Unlike closed systems such as machines, the universe engages with its environment and continues to grow and evolve. If we believe that the universe will decay we can't help but live in fear of change. In such a world, any change exhausts our store of valuable energy and leaves us empty (Wheatley, 2005). Keeping our balance is a means of defense against the eroding forces of nature. Yet, equilibrium is neither the goal nor the fate of living systems as they can continously import energy from the environment. They don't sit quietly by as their energy dissipates. On the contrary, they maintain a state of non-equilibrium so that the system can change and grow. They participate in an open exchange with their world using what is there for their own growth (Wheatley, 2007). Every organism in nature behaves in this way.
In order to develop the life-saving quality of adaptability, we need to open ourselves in many ways, especially in terms of seeking new and disturbing information. Rather than looking for information that might make us feel good we should be open to disturbances to avoid atrophy.
