Here in the USA, the push is on to vote in the presidential election for one of two candidates - which in theory is a candidate reflecting one's own values - even when the choice of candidates and their espoused values, may be extremely limited.

Voting for a candidate as a civic duty, if one has decided to vote at all, is a personal choice. In the flurry of campaign rhetoric, mud-slinging and self-promotion of national politics, one may also consider the duty one has to oneself as an independent thinker, making choices affecting one's own sphere of activities.

Beyond one's political leanings, knowing oneself as a spark energetic consciousness helps in balancing perspective. Knowing the self as a spark of consciousness, transcends the box of one's physical body and limited conditioning, thinking of oneself as only being male/female, white/color, rich/poor, right/left, young/old etc.

Knowing oneself as a spiritual being, is transcendent information like no other, which evaporates heaps of misinformation about the self, some of which may be culturally self-imposed.

In a secular society, we are encouraged, if not admonished, to totally identify primarily with the circumstance pertaining to the physical body and it's relationships to family, community, nationality as one's only real identity, even though such external factors are constantly in flux - but we remain.

In the midst of being mistakenly self-identified as a skeleton covered with 30 trillion cells of flesh, and bone, many times we are pushed to focus on polarizing choices that are external to our own circumstance and real self-interest, as eternal beings in a temporary social construct.

When one embraces oneself as the conscious energy which is actually animating the physical body, and knowing that consciousness energy is never actually destroyed when the body breaks down and dies, establishes a type of personal eternal sovereignty which can withstand any external political or circumstantial upheavals.

The freedom of choosing not to misidentify with the circumstance one is born into - such as class/gender/race, etc., frees one from massive societal disinformation, while simultaneously  establishing ones spiritual connection to a greater body of eternal truth.

Knowing oneself as different from a changing body or grander body politic, establishes one in a sovereign state of freedom and awareness. Such real, yet scarcely reported information precipitates self-actuation in relationship to a greater spiritual reality, which anyone can safely experience.

It is a major relief, discovering another real life beyond cultural and bodily conditioning; knowing that while heading towards a fake finish line, that we are all deathless and part of a greater reality.

Seeing that we have been in Halloween season, here is a musical segue; perhaps an anthem for the temporary costumes and parties we may have found ourselves misidentifying with.

Monster costumes and politics may be a little scary for a child, but can be quite funny when considering that one's identity is conscious energy which changes form, but cannot destroyed by time, or politics.

Here is a song in the same mood as Sri Krishna speaking the Bhagavad Gita; it is a mood of unconditional love and support, when reaching out to his friend Arjuna - that's how I hear it anyway.

All props and respect to Jacob Collier, from whom I seek forgiveness rather than permission for any possible objection, for my interpretation and non-commercial use of his brilliant creative offering.

As mentioned in the sacred Vedic text Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna advises his friend and student Arjuna as follows:

2.20
TRANSLATION
For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.


10.11
TRANSLATION
Out of compassion for them, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance.

Living the dream... the point when all desires are being fulfilled, so one can truly enjoy life. Arguably, a concept many of us aspire to, and why not?

According to ancient spiritual wisdom, an ever-increasing sense of satisfaction and happiness is the spiritual birthright of each soul, once re-connected to one's spiritual Source.

The fact that we go through the ups and downs of daily life, points to the reality of a disconnect at some point from our spiritual essence and identity - which in it's pure state has an intimate and loving connection to God/Source/Higher Power.

As an eternal spark of spirit having free will, at one point we chose to go it on our own - to try to enjoy separately from the Source of all energetic enjoyment.

Constitutionally, each soul is allowed eternal free will to choose unity or separation from one's Creator. Those of us choosing so-called separation (although we are never truly disconnected from spirit) have been placed in a universal delusion - a dream-like reality where one's eternal spiritual identity has been covered by subtle elements (mind, intelligence, false ego) plus gross elements of the material body.

As such, we find ourselves encased in a temporary material body that we consider to be the self or "I" and things connected to the body are claimed as "mine" (family, community, party, country, planet, etc.).

Assigned to a realm competing with similarly conditioned souls seeking to be No. 1, happiness becomes a fleeting experience of putting out the fires of distress arising from one's own body and mind, other people's bodies and minds, and the onslaught of material nature in the form of heat, cold, fire, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc.

Even if finding some temporary respite in the seeming chaos, eventually death comes along and says, "roll it up buddy, you're outta here."

We may dream of unconditional happiness and love, but along with the birth of one's body, comes eventual death, and usually disease and old age. The illusion of accepting one's body as the self, is very strong, along with the struggle for survival and staving off death, as a concomitant part of life.

We have imposed all of this upon ourselves, being ignorant of our spiritual identity which is now hosted in matter, having chosen separation over union with the Supreme. But its never too late to change.

Bhagavad Gita 2.20 describes:

"For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain."

How one misidentifies the material body for the self, is under the direction of the Supreme Lord, who is sitting next to individual soul, in the region of heart. This has been described nicely in Sriman Bhagavatam 2nd Canto, 9th Chapter, Text 1  (Translated and commented on by AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada).

TRANSLATION

Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O King, unless one is influenced by the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no meaning to the relationship of the pure soul in pure consciousness with the material body. That relationship is just like a dreamer's seeing his own body working.

PURPORT
"Mahārāja Parīkṣit's question as to how a living entity began his material life, although he is apart from the material body and mind, is perfectly answered. The spirit soul is distinct from the material conception of his life, but he is absorbed in such a material conception because of being influenced by the external energy of the Lord, called ātma-māyā. This has already been explained in the First Canto in connection with Vyāsadeva's realization of the Supreme Lord and His external energy. The external energy is controlled by the Lord, and the living entities are controlled by the external energy-by the will of the Lord. Therefore, although the living entity is purely conscious in his pure state, he is subordinate to the will of the Lord in being influenced by the external energy of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15) also the same thing is confirmed; the Lord is present within the heart of every living entity, and all the living entity's consciousness and forgetfulness are influenced by the Lord.

Now the next question automatically made will be why the Lord influences the living entity to such consciousness and forgetfulness. The answer is that the Lord clearly wishes that every living entity be in his pure consciousness as a part and parcel of the Lord and thus be engaged in the loving service of the Lord as he is constitutionally made; but because the living entity is partially independent also, he may not be willing to serve the Lord, but may try to become as independent as the Lord is. All the nondevotee living entities are desirous of becoming equally as powerful as the Lord, although they are not fit to become so. The living entities are illusioned by the will of the Lord because they wanted to become like Him. Like a person who thinks of becoming a king without possessing the necessary qualification, when the living entity desires to become the Lord Himself, he is put in a condition of dreaming that he is a king.

 Therefore the first sinful will of the living entity is to become the Lord, and the consequent will of the Lord is that the living entity forget his factual life and thus dream of the land of utopia where he may become one like the Lord. The child cries to have the moon from the mother, and the mother gives the child a mirror to satisfy the crying and disturbing child with the reflection of the moon. Similarly, the crying child of the Lord is given over to the reflection, the material world, to lord it over as karmī and to give this up in frustration to become one with the Lord. Both these stages are dreaming illusions only. There is no necessity of tracing out the history of when the living entity desired this. But the fact is that as soon as he desired it, he was put under the control of ātma-māyā by the direction of the Lord. Therefore the living entity in his material condition is dreaming falsely that this is "mine" and this is "I." The dream is that the conditioned soul thinks of his material body as "I" or falsely thinks that he is the Lord and that everything in connection with that material body is "mine." Thus only in dream does the misconception of "I" and "mine" persist life after life. This continues life after life, as long as the living entity is not purely conscious of his identity as the subordinate part and parcel of the Lord.

In his pure consciousness, however, there is no such misconceived dream, and in that pure conscious state the living entity does not forget that he is never the Lord, but that he is eternally the servitor of the Lord in transcendental love."

In the dream of pursuing love and happiness while embodied in matter, when looking only to temporary situations without any spiritual vision, most dreams are at best temporarily fulfilled, or at worst, become nightmare.

The Supreme knows our hearts and constantly reaches out, hoping we will reach back, according to our own circumstances, knowledge, and willingness.

Personally, I can't help thinking that many of the love songs we hear, are knowingly or unknowingly  expressions of one's heart seeking that eternal true love; a love connection that is waiting for us at every moment. It is a love to be found in our spiritual heart-of-hearts - even while living in this temporary dream-like world where we are tempted to settle for fleeting sensuality, rather than seeking fully awakened, heart-and-soul love of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

A highly recommended approach to re-connect to the Supreme is by repeating the prayer/mantra
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
"My dear Lord, Oh divine energy of the Lord, please engage me in Your loving service"