Douglas Adams tried to answer the question of meaning of "life, the universe and everything and came up with the answer "42," stating through his fictional characters that the problem was with the question, not the answer. Satire and slapstick ensued in the 6 novels of the egregiously named Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy trilogy. I suggest that the best answer to what is the meaning is to life, the universe and everything is simply, "Whatever." Carl Sagan is the third face on my personal Mt. Rushmore, along with Cousteau and Denver.
Dr. Michio Kaku has hypothesized that our universe is made up of an infinity of parallel universes, and that there is an 11th dimension that looks like a bubbled donut, not unlike the bubble-ring art that dolphins create, manipulate and play with in the wild and in captivity. Dr. Kaku stated, "We could be in the middle of an intergalactic conversation, and we wouldn't even know it."
Douglas Adam's explains some of the misunderstandings possible in interspecies communication: