Insightful post! As I get older I'm constantly considering my own consciousness too. Where does it come from? Is it inside my own head or is it a puppet master in the cosmos pulling the strings of my body?
Do we have a life worth living? I'd say we have a lifetime of puzzles to figure out and we don't have long to do it.
Time is always an issue. In some ways I think society is designed that way to dramatically lower our chances of discovery of the truth.