What is the self? Simply put, it is the self-awareness that recognizes itself as itself—and nothing more.

All other internal elements like thoughts, emotions, and values are, in truth, no different from the external world: they are merely objects of observation for the self.

In other words, what feels external—others, matter, and phenomena—and what feels internal—thoughts, emotions, and values—are all equally objects recognized and perceived by the self, and are, in fact, not the self itself.

The self is simply the self-awareness that observes and experiences all of these.

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So then, what exactly is the soul? It is self-awareness.
But more precisely, it refers to self-awareness along with the information it carries.

Self-awareness, when it recognizes itself as an individual “I,” becomes severed from cosmic consciousness and loses its sense of oneness with it—becoming a fragment of consciousness.

Thus, in essence, it *is* cosmic consciousness itself. But since it has lost the awareness that “the self is not an individual, but the world itself, and the cosmic consciousness as a whole,”
it now resides in a state where it can only perceive itself within the framework of a limited individual identity.

It is a fragment of cosmic consciousness carrying the illusion of individuality.

It existed long before what we call “this life” and has gone through many experiences.
As a result, it carries a great deal of information—the soul’s memories.

This self-awareness including its soul memory is what I believe we refer to as the soul.

Soul memories are the vast information accumulated through interactions with the subjective world.

The soul carries this enormous body of data.

For a more detailed explanation, see Why Destiny Exists.