Hi. I would be grateful, if someone ,who had read Middlemarch, could take explain the bold part in the following paragraph

By lilac_harbor63

I keep thinking we should stop looking at people from the outside and pay more attention to what they say about themselves—how they feel about what they can do, what’s getting in their way day to day, and whether time is making their hopes fade or just digging in some kind of self-deception. And I wonder what kind of struggle they’ve got going against all that pressure life puts on them, even though at some point it’s probably going to get to them. I guess for them their own life feels huge, but we might act like it’s too big because we don’t have enough space in our own heads to make room for it. We’re also so sure God is watching anyway, so it’s almost “noble” for us to expect that from Him, even if we don’t give much ourselves. And honestly, Mr. Casaubon kind of sounds like he lived in his own little universe too. If he thought other people were kind of put here just for him, or judged them by whether they fit into his project—especially with that “Key to all Mythologies” thing—that doesn’t feel completely foreign to me. It’s still one of those needy, misguided hopes people have, and it makes me feel a little sorry for him.