Dark Ages

Still in the dark ages?

Boy are we proud of ourselves! Only a few hundred years ago the dawn of the age of reason really pushed the envelope. Science developed the concept of objective experimentation and the world began to shed pre-conceived truths concerning the natural world. Previously dominating religious institutions were shaken to their foundations. Fortunately they were smart. It was time to retreat the bishop closer to home and play the queen in a brilliantly "inspired" move that would prove to save them....Faith.....
Whatever...
Don't get me wrong, I really dig some of what J.C. had to say. Especially the "treat others as you'd like to be treated" standard. It's beautiful how he put it all right there in a nut shell...Excellent dude!
However I digress....Back to science and the enlightenment of the world,....or so I thought....
Why has science determined that all life on this planet is based on cells?
That's true isn't it? If it doesn't have cells, it's not alive?
Somebody slap me if I am wrong here!
Does the air we breath have living cells? Does clean water we drink have living cells? What about the Earth, the soil that has broken down to the minerals absorbed by plant life? Sunlight? Science has determined that all of the above are elements essential to support life. My question is,...why can't these "elements" so much a vital part of our lives, be a form of life themselves?
Alien to our concept of cell based life yes, however these elements are found on a continued constant bases not only in our Solar System but through out the known universe.
It seems to me life forms based on cells is the oddity. We keep seeking life outside our planet, but are we seeking truth?.. or just looking for life via a narrow minded scope known as" life as we know it"?
I have been lately toying with the concept of rocks being an actual life form only alien to our concept of life. Earth her self, and heavenly bodies, gases, stars, ...are they just the platforms life generates it's self within, or are these life forms themselves? Even dare I say, conscious life forms?
My question is why not? The boundaries of research and experimentation seem content with the known cell based life forms that use the energy contained in light, heat, minerals, elements, to sustain cell based life.
I would like to challenge science to consider thinking outside the box. We may be looking halfway across the known universe when answers to our questions are here, staring us in the face.