What is the meaning of life then?

It was 12:23 in the morning, you were driving home when you died.
It was an accident. You were driving and you lost control of the vehicle and crashed. You left your family and friends behind. It was an immediate death. The doctors tried to revive you, but they couldn't. I think it was best.
Now you're here, we meet again.

^ What happened to me? You asked disoriented. Where am I?

• You passed away. There's no need to use sad words..

^ There was a truck... and it was zigzagging...

• Yes.

^ Did I... Did I die?

• Yes, but don't worry, death is only a part of life, we all die sometime. I replied.
  You looked around, and you didn't see anything. Because we're in a place where there's nothing. It's just you and me.

^ What is this place? You asked very worried - Is this what's after life?

• Hmmm, more or less.

^ Are you God?

• Yes. I am God.

^ My children... my wife...

• What about them?

^ They're gonna be okay, right?

• This is what I like to see. You just died and your first concern is your family. That's an excellent thing. You looked at me with fascination. To you, I wasn't like you imagined a God. I just looked like a guy. Or maybe a woman. Maybe like a vague authoritarian figure. More as a mentor than an almighty God.

• Don't worry, they'll be fine. Your children will remember you as the perfect dad, as they were not old enough to have different perspectives on things and discuss them with you. Your wife will cry outward, but inside she'll be relieved that you're dead. You see, your marriage was going straight to divorce. If it's any consolation, she'll feel awful about being relieved.

^ Oh... - You said with a worried look on your face. - What happens now? Am I going to hell? To paradise?

• None of them. Now, you're going to reincarnate.

^ Ah then the Hindus were the ones who were right about religion.

• Well, all religions are right, in a way. Come, walk with me.
  You followed in my footsteps, as we walked through the void.

^ Where are we going? you asked me.

• Nowhere in particular. I just like to talk while I'm walking.

^ What's the point? you said a little indignant. When I'm reborn I'll lose my memory and I won't remember anything, right? I'll be a baby who won't know anything about my experiences and my life. Nothing I did, nothing I worked for, nothing matters.

• It's not like that. Inside you, you have all the experiences of your past lives, you just don't remember them. I grabbed you by the shoulders and told you

• Your soul is much more magnificent, beautiful and great than you can imagine. The human mind can only contain a small fraction of what you are. It's like touching a glass with your finger to see if it's cold or hot. You put a small part of yourself in the glass and then you take it out, because you already have all the knowledge you could get from that glass. You have been a human for the last 48 years so you still can't stretch and feel the rest of the immense consciousness you have. If you stay here long enough, you'll start to remember, but there's no reason for you to do that in between, because you'll forget again.

You kept thinking for a while and asked me:

^ How many times have I reincarnated then?

• Many times, you've had very different lives. This time, you will be a slave, in the year 1324.

^ Wait, you're sending me into the past?

• Well, I guess so, yeah. Technically, time as you know it only exists in your universe. Where I come from, things are very different.

^ Where do you come from? What's that place like?

• Well, what happens is that I come from somewhere else and there are many others like me. I know you want to know what it's like where I come from, but trust me, you wouldn't understand.

^ Oh yeah, I get it. You said sad. Hey, but if I reincarnate as someone in the past, I may at some point start interacting with myself, or may I not?

• I'm sure of it. That happens all the time. And with each life, you'll be aware of only what you're living, so when you're interacting with yourself, you won't notice.

Silence was present again in the conversation, until you interrupted it with:

^ What is the meaning of life then?

• Oh, you really want to ask me that? Don't you think that's a bit of a predictable question, being able to ask others?

^ Well, it's a reasonable question, you insisted.

I looked you right in the eye and said

• The reason for life, the reason I made this whole universe, is so that you can grow up.

^ You mean mankind - you told me - Do you want all mankind to mature?

• No, just you. I made this whole universe just for you. With each life you have, your intellect begins to expand and become more complete.

^ Just me? And what about all the other people?

• There is no one else. There's only you and me in this universe.

You turned pale and said to me:

^ But what about all the people on earth?

• They're all you. Different reincarnations of you.

^ How? - How? Is it me? No one else?

• Now you're getting it - I said flatteringly, with a pat on the back.

^ I am all the humans who have lived?

• Or that they will live. Yeah.

^ I'm Hitler? I'm Pinochet?

• Yeah, and you're all the people he killed too.

^ I am Jesus?

• And you're all his followers.

You were silent, so I told you:

• Every time you victimized someone, you were victimizing yourself. Every time you did an act of kindness to someone, you did it to yourself. Every moment of happiness or sadness, in humanity, will be or was experienced by you.

You thought a lot and...

^ Why? - Why all of this?

• Because someday, you'll become someone like me. Because that's what you are. You're my son.

^ Really? - you told me unbelieving - I am a God?

• No, you're not yet. You're like a fetus, growing up. Once you have lived each human life through what you call time, you will have grown up enough to be born.

^ So... what is the universe?

• A living being that we all make up - I answered - Now it is time for you to move on to your next life.