How do we see the world?

Do we regard everything as purely material substance, or is there more? Surely things are more than the sum of their parts, otherwise it is difficult to find meaning in anything. The sum of the works of Shakespeare are more than pigment on wood, it's meaning is derived from the information it contains and how it moves us. The writing of creation is in our very DNA, like a signature in our cells that should move us to look beyond substace and find meaning and purpose. Is God far away or close to the very fibre of our being.