Nice one Luke. Your voyage of enlightenment is interesting and uplifting.
Einstein put his finger on the 'big' question when he taught us that matter is merely stored energy....i.e a transient form for universal energy. Our consciousness is not derived from our matter but is an expression of energy flows in our brain...which is where it hooks nicely into ideas of Zero Point field and quantum mechanics. Since I realised that for myself, I've never really been troubled again by the 'Big' question. Me, myself, I is merely a resting point for a tiny part of universal energy flow, like an eddy in a river. Here for now but soon gone and irrelevant. But we have evolved the capacity for enjoyment or misery and its up to us to accentuate the former and diminish the latter. Yup, mindfulness all over again!
Stick at it!