Something that defines the characteristics that make someone an individual but remains separate from the individual's material make up. Bill Bryson pointed out that out of our millions of cells, by the time that we die we will share absolutely none with the makeup that we were born with, but we can still identify ourselves as the same individual. I see a soul, on a completely non religious level, as this essence or identity that allows us to exist outside of our own body, the very concept of who I am. It might be linked to spirit if that exists, or to mind if dualist theories are correct. But most importantly it adds context and meaning to the mental and chemical and physical aspects that make up me. The meaning and identity is what that means to me