C C C:
So we evolve this awareness of self over hundreds of thousands of years, then we want to get rid of it?
Hehe, I think the boilerplate explanation is that we don't want to get rid of it, but rather
transcend it. Not my words though

C C C:
Did evolution take a wrong step?
Maybe evolution is well served with relatively unhappy humans? Seems to make sense, as we as a race would continue to strive towards betterment if we were not happy with our current state. Evolution plays a continuous trick of bait and switch on us and we keep reaching for the bait. So from an evolutionary point of view, I would say that self-awareness has been a success this far.
What puzzles me though is that we are seemingly able to transcend this. Maybe that is
us playing a trick on evolution!
But then again, there is no us to do the tricking, only "evolution" tricking itself. The duality is nauseating. "Big cosmic joke" indeed.

EDIT:
Trent .:
I found your post interesting to read and contemplate, but thought to mention one thing; that is: consciousness is fundamentally a simple process.
Ah yes. From my current understanding, consciousness is a quite magnificent thing. It is the purest of all mirrors, with only the outmost fundamental structure required to reflect existence. As nature is so complex, the only way consciousness could exist is as this reflectiveness.
Trent .:
One way by which 'I' complicate matters is through relating one thing to another. If this intuitive tendency is left unchecked, then the more items there are available to 'me' which seem comparable, the more relating 'I' will do.
And this is what I call self-awareness. It is a great tool for what we might call "productivity" or perpetuation and betterment of our current state, and so is an evolutionary success.