Just as each soul spark of every living cell in our bodies makes up that which we call our soul, so too do all living souls in the world cumulatively make up part of a universal soul. Indeed, mysticism teaches us that the soul giving us vitality is connected to, and draws sustenance from, a universal soul.
So long as we do not die to ourselves, and so long as we are identified with someone or something, we shall never be free. The spiritual way is not for those wrapped up in exterior life.