So I do wonder, could you help me/us discover what the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything is?
The Universe is. Nothing more. Nothing less.
This is the secret that people have issues with. It does not have a value, we put that upon it. It does not have an innate meaning, we assign it one. It has a begining and an end. Perhaps it does, but since we can not experience anything except that in the universe, the topic becomes an exercise in semantics. Most of the issues that people have with the way the universe is, is the people's issue... not the universe's.
People cause their own issues by projecting their own needs and desires upon it. The universe is independent of the people and the people's perception of the universe. It is. It does not need anything more than that. Because people project their own needs and desires, people come into conflict about what is. That is not the universe's fault. It is the peoples fault.
For example, a person is only unhappy because they choose to be unhappy... to take the universe as it is and assign values and conditions that are not met by the universe. The person may want the universe to be a certain way. They may not take the steps to make it that way, or be unable to achieve that way. It is not the universe's fault, the universe just is. If the person changes their requirements for happiness to meet the condition of the universe, then they will be happy.
In the book, the computer was supposed to investigate the ultimate question. The computer determine the correct answer... there isn't one. So it figured it had a junk input, because all questions should have an answer. So it gave an answer that is the equivalent of the last digit of PI being 7. No way to prove it. No need for it to be. It just is.
Douglas Adams says "It is also said that the question and the answer can not be known in the same universe and that if the quenstion and answer are known in the same universe, the universe as we know it will instantly disappear and be replaced by a new universe with a new ultimate question and therefore with a new answer that is even more inexplicable. " To him I say. "if that is what you believe." To me, the answer is, It just is.