Te excerpt below, is definitely the closest way of understanding what is the soul (our essence) to what I have actually learned during my trance-experiences and described in "Master and The Green-Eyed Hope". Of course this is not the same thing, and yet I too have learned that there are many "layers"(parts)  to what we are and, yes, one of the parts is a soul that is, by all means, mortal (Ancient Egyptians call it the mortal soul). And there is also a part of us that we may, indeed, see as possibly the immortal soul (as the Ancient Egyptians named it). I call it "consciousness" and it may keep existing, perhaps even eternally, as long as it keeps experiencing itself and constantly progressing. Also, what they called Immortal Spiritual being, I see as the Highest Vibration with which we are all connected. The view of the ancient Egyptians is therefore very interesting to me! Here is the excerpt:

Ancient Egyptian Components of the Soul:

It is important to understand the Ancient Egyptian way of looking at the components of the soul. We generally perceive ourselves as holistically as body, soul and spirit. In Ancient Egyptian system, the soul is seen as hierarchy of several levels of being.

These were regarded as "entities" which together formed our whole being:

Akh (or Akhu ): Immortal Spiritual being

Sahu: Immortal Spiritual body

Sekhem: Immortal Spiritual Life Force

Ren: Secret name / Energy Formula

Ab ( or Ib ): Heart / Inner Essence

Ba: Immortal Soul

Ka: Mortal Soul

Khabit: Vitality / Shadow

Khat (or Kha ): The Physical Body

Excerpt from "Back to Future for Humankind" by Dr. Ibrahim Karim