We think that deep space distant and unreachable, but actually the events in this space could help to accelerate the evolution of life on Earth. We ended up here by accident. Evolution could go in another branch; any chance of spontaneous emergence of life are so small that they can be called accidental. The life of the Earth appeared as a result of a chain of random events, strange situations, convenient disasters, from ice ages to asteroid collisions — and here we are.
Taking all this as a given, we can understand the history of life only if you choose a wider field of view. Organisms influenced by their environment, and these environments are formed, in turn, under the action of powerful geological forces such as volcanoes and ice sheets, and climate change.
And yet we should further expand the horizons, to throw the chain away. What if these powerful forces have been influenced by even more powerful forces from the wider Universe? Could the cosmic events in our Solar system and even our galaxy play a role? Should we just thank our stars that we are here?