The distinction between life and non-life is perhaps an illusion. Does a dual-aspect monist not believe that matter and mind (which is a sign of life) emerge from a single source which transcends both? Animism is unfashionable nowadays, but is having a revival, and is of course related to panpsychism.

That would be the simplest explanation for how life emerges from non-life. It doesn't. Just as consciousness does not emerge from the brain, another problem which torments neuroscientists.