Many people sought their soul, their true self, their innermost being. Most others, of course, have not even tried. Mystics, when beginning their quest, searched to no avail until they accepted that it is here and now. It was so obvious that they had overlooked it.
You cannot find the soul; it is not a place or a thing to find. The soul, however, can be experienced. Have you seemed to be judging your self? When the ego self gets angry, does the inner self wonder why? When your mind thinks strange thoughts, does the true self acknowledge that they are strange? When the self reflected in the mirror behaves badly, is the self within the mirror aware that it is wrong? It can sometimes be a painful evaluation. This self-critic is your conscience...innate, not the learned superego*; it is the outer edge of the soul, underlying a ripple in the divine ocean.
You cannot even realize “your soul” because it is not yours; it is the divine within you. From that metaphorical ocean, the divine is observing life on shore. On its surface, each soul reflects one mortal self walking on the beach we call this life. The divine essence, the inner depths shared by all souls, is usually detached from activities of worldly selves, like an audience to a play, but may sometimes intervene in emergencies or to guide lost egos back onto the path.
When you do realize soul, accepting the divine influx, it can act as a spiritual guide to the manifest ego self which has a name, a shape and moves in a variety of circumstances. In this play of life, all of the characters have a part and script to keep the divine production flowing. Most of them use their theatrical persona as a mask to hide their inner uncertainty. Many of these actors just want to be stars, not in the supporting cast. Others forget their lines while thinking about personal problems. Some do not come on stage or do not act on cue, which then upsets the performance of everyone else. True mystics play their roles soul-fully...exactly as directed.
Another analogy to understand soul is sports, where teamwork is more important than individual accomplishments. Many athletes want the glory of scoring, but without their teammates’ assistance they might not have a chance. We are in this game of life together, although some people seem to think only of their own achievement. Soul is reaching deep inside to actuate our greatest potential, while always aware of playing in harmony with other souls. For true mystics, winning is living sacramentally...in and for the divine.
Forget inadequate comparisons with this life. Consider instead eternal life. In sports, every game is over in one day and a season concludes each year. In the theater, a play will only run for a limited number of stagings...albeit for many years. Do we move from one human life to another, or from this mortal being through levels of ethereal being, in search for the divine? Infinity has no boundaries or limits; it is the infinite here. Eternity has no beginning or end; it is the eternal now. Here and now are not only important in this life, they are two vital aspects of the spiritual life which lives endlessly in all of us. It is the divine One here and now manifested in All. Look beyond space and time.
Finding the soul, even if that was possible, is less significant than living in the soul.