Originally, The Word Of Gord was a metaphysical Q and A for the late night martini set who always get around to meaning-of-life stuff after the dancing slows to a crawl and supplies get dangerously low. Personally I'm long past that stage now, being much more into the hot cocoa and book-at-bedtime phase, but hey, I remember it well, or at least well enough to throw in my two cents with something like agility and panache.

I'm willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that there's a bunch of groovers out there grinding their teeth over just this kind of chat. And you can take all the Existentialist/Buddhist/ Christian/Athiest/Capitalist/Suck-Up-All-The-Possessions-You-Can philosophies and you still ain't gonna find anything as cool and out there plain-as-day as what follows....

...so just put your know-it-all cynicism in your back pocket and, as Jimi said, just groove on a rainy day....

ONE

What is the meaning of life?
On this planet it means acquiring individuality at the expense of conformity and accumulating all possible experiences in the data banks of your soul.

TWO

It's that simple? What about stopping war and ending world hunger, and maybe imprisoning all viruses and bacteria in a large and impenetrable underground bunker?
Those are undoubtedly important issues, very important issues, but ultimately they fall into the category above, that of accumulating experience in your data banks.

THREE

So these data banks, what are they for?
They increase your level of knowledge and intelligence, and are extremely useful when you graduate.

FOUR

Graduate from what? Life? You mean death?
I mean graduate from the school of earth, which usually comes after many incarnations.

FIVE

Reincarnation then?
Yes, the accumulation of information goes on through many rebirths.

SIX

How come I can't connect with this intelligence? How come I feel so dumb most of the time?
This intelligence is stored in your higher self, that hotel of soul energies from which you come and to which you return. To connect you must allow your thoughts and meditations to reach up to higher self.

SEVEN

What if I can't understand what it says?
The communication will always be given in terms of your current understanding.

EIGHT

That how you did it?
Pretty much.

NINE

Like talking to god is it?
Hmmn, maybe. God does not talk, in my experience, God just is. Not only knows everything, but is everything. And not terribly chatty in my experience. When you allow yourself to merge with god, rather than holding back in fear, you see that there are no questions to ask, that being is all. Higher self is like a speck of god who knows almost all of what god knows, and is more than happy to let you in on the secret. All you have to do is ask.

TEN

So what about all that religion stuff, mercy, compassion, kindness and what all?
Those are all human qualities that you develop on your way to graduation.

ELEVEN

So you're saying they're not that important?
No, I'm saying that they're ultimately no more important than any other qualities, like courage, conviviality, determination, piety, appropriating and relinquishing power, ruthlessness, artistic creativity, cultivation of esthetic sensibility, acquiescence, acquisitiveness, the list goes on. They’re all important, depending on the game you’re learning and the strategies you're implementing.

TWELVE

Like there's a time for every purpose under heaven?
Yeah, more or less.

...and Yes, there's more to come...