I can tell you what I believe. Soul is frequently described as mortal, spirit never is. They are different.
The "real you" is hard to find since it's gotten mixed up entangled with matter. You are a spirit. You are part of God. The spirit of men when it goes terribly wrong either returns to God where it loses its individual identity or it can go into the Outer Darkness.
The "real you" has or owns four parts -- although Moses lists three. Moses has it as heart, soul and body. He's melded "soul and mind" into "soul." So Jesus gives the more complete picture with the four being heart, soul, mind and body. You can see that the "real you" possesses those by the pronoun "thy." They are not you. They belong to you.
Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
All four are meant to be vessels, instruments or "chariots" for the spirit. All four are meant to be subject to spirit -- and failure in any of the four creates inner conflict with a clashing of energy. So if you mind knows what is right to do, but you heart wants something else and your body sins, you have a conflict. A house divided against itself cannot stand. There is a hierarchy involved too: Spirit then heart then mind then soul and finally body. Spirit is meant to be in control of them using that hierarchy.
In the fallen world, that hierarchy tends to be inverted. The body rules, using its false carnal sense of self. The soul gets enslaved by the carnal nature; and then those two daze the mind, confusing it and making it unsound. Finally the heart gets perverted; and the spirit says, "What am I doing? Everything is out of control." In this condition, Jesus can send his spirit to help yours -- and he knows how to bring all four of those vessels back into obedience. If all four are perfected (or extremely close), you are ready to be born "of the spirit." Earlier being born of the water means your soul was cleansed. That makes it easier for the Christ Spirit to get other things in order.
Someone born of the spirit can "fly." He's not stuck in his physical body, not trapped or enslaved by it. He can be described as a son of man -- made the way the original Adam or man was. The "son of man" is both in heaven but also comes down. Jesus described himself as son of man; Ezekiel was also called that. Not much is said about what a cherub is -- but they are chariots in a way -- and the same Hebrew letters are used in both words -- the same letters are used in the river Chebar also.
God can be described as flying on a cherub.
2 Samuel 22:11 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
Compare to:
John 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
My study of astrology came in handy too since the cherubim can be seen in the zodiac.
Calf - Taurus the Bull -- earth -- physical body.
Eagle -- off a little -- this is Aquila close to Scopio the scorpion -- the emotional body or soul.
Man -- Aquarius -- the man which is actually both male and female -- the mental body.
Lion -- Leo the lion -- heart or some call it the volitional body since it is where our basic impulses spring from.
We humans can get very confused by which is which -- thus the confusion between soul and spirit. The Catholic Church lost its knowledge of this quite early on. The confusion gets cleared up only when Jesus speaks "the Word" which separates them. When the four are separated, the spirit can tell which is which.
Hebrews 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The separating should begin shortly after becoming a Christian and reach its culmination when one enters the eternal rest by being born of the spirit. At that point, the "newly born child" is forever with the Lord in one way -- while the physical body can live on for the purpose of leading others to salvation. One is taken, one left behind. The male child in Revelation is caught up while the mother is left below with her other offspring persecuted by the dragon. Yes, that portrays Jesus -- but it also can portray us too.
Some people experience things without knowing what they are. Each of those four has its own level. Thus there is the physical world and the three heavens. The human soul, even if sinful, can often travel in the lowest heaven which has been corrupted and turned into hell -- it's called astral travel. I have seen some horrible things on the "astral plane" or "in hell" whichever you what to call it. There is a barrier there though between the first and second heavens -- a firmament -- so the sinful soul cannot get up into the second or third heavens on its own. If the mental body has learned how to fly, it's also restricted and can't get up to the third heaven on its own. Nor can the volitional body get into the third heaven if impure -- those with impure hearts are shut out.