I am not a Buddhist, but have sympathy for may aspects of its wisdom. In fact, the illusion of a soul is a natural confusion of consciousness. The evolution of each of our characters is formed as our nature fields our nature. I am at one with the quest that embodies new knowledge and old wisdom. It sounds very resonant with what you are presenting, although I do not try to reconcile differing beliefs. It is important,(and even courageous) as you are doing, to disavow the illusion of a non biological entity, the soul.
I would suggest a new paradigm for consciousness. It is developed and organized as a "play" with a cast of characters, feeling relationships, plots, set designs and landscape. It is a unified field theory of human consciousness, which includes psychiatry, neuroscience, dreams, myths, religion, and art— all elements of the same thing. It derives from and is consonant with our child rearing and culture. The “play” encompasses the ineffable human mysteries— birth, death, and the disparity between our ordinary sense of self and our intimation of a deeper authenticity. (In the earliest form of consciousness we coalesce as a non-representational being, who is the feeling of a being. This underlies our later sense of self and is usually given false representational form as a soul.) It includes as well the dark side of our nature. And finally, it holds the key to the nature of beliefs in general. Human consciousness and human nature are one and the same. The creation of our inner play by the brain is the consummation of our Darwinian human evolution.
Robert A Berezin, MD is the author of "Psychotherapy of Character, the Play of Consciousness in the Theater of the Brain"
www.robertberezin.com