hello woody..

in terms of the Upanishads, as i understand it..

the Self is infinite..unbroken..un-alterable..Atman

the Jiva (individual soul) is, like thought forms and their projected objects, a limited or veiled projection from the Self...it is an ignorance of the totality, but the forms of Maya (illusion) are most beautiful, as is she...

the one question that can never be answered though (as some swamis say) is 'Why?'..

but yeah, as drfaust says, keep reading...layers get deeper and clearer..