what we can know depends on our state of consciousness

What does it mean to care for your soul? Care of the soul is the constant practice of bringing loving attention to the problems, conflicts,  and longings of our lives. Emotional suffering is something to be attended to, not split off from. We can learn to read our life as a story, rather than as a clinical case. Moreover, if the story we have been telling ourselves is a melodrama or tragedy, we need to rewrite the story. Every human life, when seen from the perspective of the unrelenting Divine Mercy, is the story of grace unfolding. Love is revealing itself in the precise details of each human life, if only we do not impose the script of self-pity, bitterness, and fearfulness. The soul is where the divine attributes of God may be awakened from their latent state to be integrated into our character. These qualities are the soul's natural inheritance from the Divine. It is through communion with the Divine that the soul takes on the spiritual attributes of kindness, generosity, courage, forgiveness, patience, and freedom.

What are the signs that someone has begun to acquire a soul? More constancy in presence, more intentionality, and more remembrance in outer life.  The spiritual teacher is very familiar with the ploys of the ego self, how it interferes with people's spiritual intentions, distracts them, subverts them. That's why, especially in the beginning, it is so important to be intentional in relation to one's spiritual commitments. Without giving priority to such commitments there is little chance of transforming the false self and developing soul.

Eventually, as the soul develops it will show this constancy even in our dreams - that is, even to the depths of our subconscious mind.

The soul is a knowing substance that knows the Reality beyond time and space. To acquire this kind of knowing is to become illuminated, to be connected to a greater intelligence that will guide every step of your life. Instead of living in fear and uncertainty, you will more and more be able to trust the unfolding of Life.

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Beyond the facts of sensory existence, or concurrent with this existence, is the dimension of qualities that are perceived by even subtler faculties than our senses. If we read great poetry with only our sensory mind and intellect, we may know the literal, concrete meanings of the words - we may know whether or not it makes sense on a concrete or intellectual level - but we will not necessarily know the meaning, feel the nuances, or catch the emotional taste of it. We may in one moment be reading poetry as mere words, but with a change of consciousness, with the heart open and engaged, the same lines might inexplicably bring tears to our eyes. What is it that controls this flow of tears? Why does this experience arise from our depths? What we experience is dependent on our state of consciousness.

~ Living Presence: The Sufi Path to Mindfulness and the Essential Self, by Kabir Helminski