Everything I have said so far leads here: you are not a human being having a spiritual experience. You are not a soul trapped in a body. You are not a sinner who needs saving. You are not a random accident of chemistry. You are the universe becoming aware of itself in one specific place, at one specific time, through one specific body. You are awareness wearing a costume. And the costume is so detailed, so convincing, so all-consuming, that you forgot there was someone wearing it.
Consider this: every atom in your body was made in the nuclear fire of a star that exploded billions of years before Earth existed. You are, literally and physically, made of stardust. But you are not just made of the universe; you are the universe arranged so that it can look at itself. A rock is the universe being a rock. A tree is the universe being a tree. You are the universe being aware that it is the universe. You are the point where the cosmos opens its eyes. That is not poetry. That is a plain description of what a conscious being is: matter arranged in enough complexity to look back at itself. The universe spent 13.8 billion years building you so it could feel what it is like to be here.
If you are the universe experiencing itself, then you are not small. You are not unimportant. You are not a meaningless accident on a pale blue dot. You are the leading edge of 13.8 billion years of cosmic evolution: the most complex structure in the known universe, able to think about its own existence, make art, fall in love, ask why, and reach for the infinite. You are not a creature trying to find God. You are God trying to find itself. And every moment of self-awareness, every honest question, every honest search, that is the universe waking up to itself. That is the meaning of your life. Not a purpose stamped on you from outside. A purpose built into what you are.
This is also why your suffering matters. If you were just an accident, your pain would mean nothing: chemical noise in an indifferent cosmos. But if you are the universe experiencing itself, then your suffering is the universe suffering. Your joy is the universe in joy. Your confusion is the universe confused. And your awakening (the moment you see through the illusion of separation) is the universe recognizing itself. Every tradition says this. The Vedantic sages called it Atman recognizing Brahman. The Zen masters called it satori. The Christians called it the Kingdom of God within. The Sufis called it fana: the dissolving of the separate self, revealing the Self that was always there.