I'll have a 69 Please, with a slice of risque on the side - thanks!

Ford: You're looking for the Ultimate Question.

Zaphod: Yep.

Ford: You.

Zaphod: Me.

Ford: Why?

Zaphod: No, I tried that: Why? 42. Doesn't work.

     The answer to the ultimate question is? Well it follows the answer to the penultimate question . . . that's the absolute truth of the matter, especially when you're a penult short of a last syllable.  Anyway, Zaphod got his 'Math' wrong, the answer is obviously 69, which according to my local Chinese takeaway is pretty tasty, but when you think about it, well, 69, when enjoyed in a sideways position equates pretty damned approximately to a numerical Yin-Yang symbol. Obviously. 69 - look again - 69 See? And therefore one can see, and thus follow, 0ne's logic here, right? The 6 & 9 are . . .

. . in Perfect Harmony.

   Science has been looking for the answer to the Ultimate Question since . . . since Science began? Yes, Science had a beginning, doesn't everything? Yes, and an end apparently in this apparent existence, however, this existence is only apparent - apparently. My question here though is not as grand as an ultimate question, not even as grand as a back up penultimate question, my question is, oh, I forget - I took too long writing to get to the point quickly enough to remember not to forget the question. Hmmm.....

Ah yes, Science - does it know the answer? Isn't science always an nth of a degree short of a basket full of mice with the savvy to come up with a dolphins equation other than "So long and thanks for all the fish"? That's right, science is always, and will remain always, forever and a day (amen) an nth of a degree out!

Why? Why will science remain so far short of le grande discovery? Because it starts from a supposition that is an nth of a degree short of a place worth starting. You can't start by asking 'Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?', no, No, NO - and if you really want to know the answer all you have to do is order both from eBay and see which arrives first - I already know the answer. Don't pester me with the results of your own experiments, thanks!¬

Been there, done that, sold the t-shirt on eBay - made a pretty penny actually, can't complain, thanks for asking. And yes, it did have the answer to the Ultimate Question written on it, which you already know the answer to....

What if there isn't an answer? What if there is only a solution, rather than an answer? What if the mind, whether the mind of a religionist or scientist et al, can not know, cannot understand this subject enough to get beyond the nth of a degree short it happens to be? In other words, what if the mind itself is an nth of a degree out? Hm, what then?

Are you going to humour me here by staying with me? Do you get the gist of the suggestion being brought to the table? What if the mind itself, the thinker, is looking at the question from a position that is already that nth of a degree away from the starting point? Are you getting it yet my friend, or are you still imagining what it would be like to be in that 69 position right now with the partner of your dreams?

Come back, bring your attention into this moment. What am I suggesting? The suggestion here is that the mind, the mind you are looking at life through right now, that's the one, got it(?) - is already an nth of a degree out of sync with reality when it asks the Ultimate Question. Going further, your attention, yes the attention which is now paying attention to these words, is also an nth out. Sorry to be the one to break it to you bud, but it's about time someone did, yep, you really are a raisin short of a fruit and nut cake. Or put another, more polite, way - Nah!

The word solution was mentioned. Questions lead to answers that lead to yet more questions leading to more answers and more questions . . . the vicious (nth degree out) circle, not dissimilar to the one mentioned earlier about the chicken and the egg, and yet still no one knows who crossed the road first, or why?

   And that's the problem with questions, they start in the mind, which is an nth of a degree away from the starting point. The starting point being at the absolute centre of the universe, which is what you are before you lose yourself within the notional idea of an individuated you with a mind of your own with which to pay attention to whatever you choose to pay attention to . . .

The solution is what remains when there are no more questions, 

when the questioner is no more.