Usefulness (specifically, future usefulness), not ‘meaning’. Our minds evolved to be in control of our next meal or place to shelter. That came from making models of the environment inside our heads, and to be intentional about meeting future needs. It really doesn’t have to ‘mean’ anything except survival.

The dreamlike state of consciousness is a bug, not a feature. Sure, it can be beautiful, but it’s not the purpose of human beings. Our purpose is to be useful to our place’s future. Most animals do it by simply surviving and being engaged with their environment. Humans went too far and invented civilization (city-based society), where we isolate ourselves from the risks and responsibilities of our place in nature, then tell ourselves that we were granted this ‘right’ by imaginary beings; even as our natural world gets destroyed by our obtuse (divine) behaviors.