Q already hints towards this… as for purpose- what's any being's purpose for coming here? Is the human collective consciousness separate from that of other animals on the planet? Could argue so with the '100th monkey' effect, effecting different organisms ability to render skills or tool use differently or at different times…. Could a being swap from one collective consciousness to another? possibly.. If there's a vacuum in a sea of matter (or in another example, political leadership) it generally tends toward an equilibrium..
Safe travels. The federation sounds fascinating.. maybe one day the door will open for voluminous dialogue.. would be much to learn.