The Soul
You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body. ~ Irish novelist C.S. Lewis
An ancient idea still holds sway, despite disdain from matterists: the soul encapsulates the consciousness of an incarnate individual. In common parlance, soul and consciousness are largely synonymous, but there is a distinction. Whereas consciousness embodies a live constituent, a soul has a resonance which transcends mortality.
The senses in the body operate only thanks to the consciousness. And you are separate from this body and the consciousness. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
The soul is a simple essence. ~ Johann Friedrich Herbart
Our absorbing experiences in the everyday world obscure our extra-dimensional relations. Like quanta, which are incomplete without their virtual companions, souls do not exist in solitude.
You are never alone. There are powers and presences who serve you all the time most faithfully. You may or may not perceive them, nevertheless they are real and active. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
Just as transcendence affords freedom from the mind, a soul may transcend the mortal coil. As with all else, there are state-based rules associated with transmigration, though not morally grounded, as some religions have it. The evolution of a soul is in its learning.
