How are non-living things connected to the Force?

Question

If the Force is an energy field created by all living things, what did Yoda mean by

You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship.

Trees, being living things, I could understand as having a connection to the Force, but rocks and starships? If midichlorians are the measure of one's connection to the Force, rocks, being non-biological, would not have midichlorians. For that matter, how can Force users manipulate inanimate objects that have no connection to the Force?

Answer 1

You have a basic misunderstanding in the force that a number of people had when the idea of midichlorians was first revealed - that is the idea that midichlorians are the force, or are a driving factor of the force.

This is not the case. A high midichlorian count is an indicator of a highly-powerful force-user, but midichlorians do not, in themselves, cause or create the force. They're simply an indicator.

Also, you need to remember that the original trilogy DOES point out that this is how the force works, before all this midichlorean malarky started. From Obi-Wan.

"Now the force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's a sort of energy field...it surrounds us and penetrates us and binds the galaxy together." - Star Wars IV

The force is an intrinsic part of the entire galaxy - not just the living parts, but all objects and, as Yoda said, even in the space between things.

Answer 2

Perhaps by interacting with the space between or next to the non-living things. Think of a large boulder in a river. The water is not enough to move the boulder directly, but if the sand under the boulder gets eroded away then the boulder will shift. Controlling that erosion would be nearly the same as controlling the boulder. If there are small enough particles of living material (not even getting into the midi-chlorians), then the soil, water and even air would be filled with living organisms to "erode" the space next to an inorganic object.