The concepts of meaning and purpose are just a consequence of self awareness. When human brains evolved enough that our ancestors became self aware and capable of abstract thinking, they almost certainly struggled with the question of "why?". Why am I here, is that all there is, hunt, eat, suffer, etc? As far as we know, animals have no concept of meaning and purpose, they act on instinct, they exist in the here and now, and maybe only incipiently some have that combination of self awareness and abstract thinking, but no where near human levels. As far as we know, no animals have a concept of gods or religion.
So humans struggled with the realization that death is the end, that suffering has no meaning and it's easier just to end it all, with the perception of how big and uncontrollable the world/universe is, etc, etc. And evolution being what it is gave those who were capable of imagining a solution to that problem an edge, an advantage. Those who could imagine answers to not only that issue, but also to everyday happenings, like why does it rain sometimes, why is it so dry sometimes that we barely have enough to eat, how can we control if it rains or not, etc, etc, could calm themselves, give themselves an explanation that eased their fears of nothingness and impotence in the great scheme of things. In an imponderable world this was an advantage and those who could do it were almost certainly more motivated to go on with daily life than those who could not. Being religious became the norm because it made our brains not freak out when asking the difficult questions about life and the universe. With the advancement of science that became less necessary and that's why the higher and better scientific education the less prone people are to be religious. Of course we still struggle with purpose, because we're aware all these things, but purpose doesn't have to be grandiose, doesn't have to be about changing the world either now or for the future. Individual purpose can be just living to make sure your children are happy and well set for life, being successful in a big pay, big house, big car sort of way. Or eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you die. When all purpose is lost, people do inevitably get depressed and depression is characterized by not taking care of oneself, being less capable of reacting to danger, less capable of having children or taking care of them so that they reach adulthood and perpetuate the species. Evolution obviously does not favor depressed people and that's why, even with the huge development of science, our brains still benefit from finding purpose.
It's obvious you had a very poor scientific education, I see it time and time again in people who struggle to understand evolution. You're almost certainly American.
Evolution may not have that higher meaning, but it certainly has purpose. Evolution is not some path towards perfection or anything like that. Survival of the fittest is also misinterpreted, as it often has little to do with being bigger or stronger. The purpose of evolution is adaption to the ever changing environment. Climate changes, conditions change, what was yesterday the fittest is today unfit. Evolution can happen slowly overtime, like when one region starts getting progressively hotter or colder and the living things that inhabit it have to adapt. Take a cold area that becomes hotter: cold adapted animals usually have big layers of isolating fat, lots of fur, small noses/snout. An animal that doesn't have lots of fat and fur isn't likely to survive very long and reproduce. But then the weather starts getting slowly warmer, the big, fat and and furry, well adjusted animal from before starts overheating, can't run as fast, either can't hunt enough food or can't escape the predators. As for the skinner guy, it now feels fine, is able to get food and get away from predators and pass on its genes to many offspring.
Evolution can also happen quite fast, but the principle is the same. The classical example is about moths and the industrial revolution in the UK. Moths used to be whitish so as to blend well with the bark of birch trees, which made it harder for predators to spot them. Then a factory was built which produced lots of dark smoke, this smoke covered the bark of the trees and turned them dark. Suddenly, the whitish moths that had so well prospered, stood out like they had a target on their backs. But nature is always prepared for this sort of catastrophic event. You see, even if it wasn't benefitial at all for them, dark moths were always born along the white ones. Only a few and with little change to live long, but they did exist. And suddenly, they were the fittest for that environment, the ones living long and reproducing. In very few years the moths were almost all dark... and then factories became cleaner, birch trees went back showing their real colours, and moths are now mostly whitish again.
This is evolution and its purpose.
