The soul, in its first state, before it has formed the mind and body, is just like a bubble in the water, but the better simile would be a ray of the sun. "Will you say that the ray is not the sun?" The ray is the sun, but we distinguish the sun as apart, distinct within itself. If you ask me how the ray has been formed, I will say: by the activity, springing out of the consciousness. If the sun were inactive, there would be no ray. We distinguish the ray as longer or shorter, now stronger, now fading away, according to the state of activity in it.