Atman, Soul or the Self or consciousness or awareness is one and the same thing.+

The Atman is the Sanskrit word, for Soul the Self. The Atman or Soul is present in the form of consciousness. the nature of the Soul is nondual awareness. 

Thus, Atman or Soul or the Self, or consciousness or awareness is one and the same thing. ignorance is the cause of identifying them as different from each other. 

First Mundaka - Chapter 2 (8) ~ Fools, dwelling in darkness, but wise in their own conceit and puffed up with vain scholarship, wander about, being afflicted by many ills, like blind men led by the blind.

This universe in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of single stuff. That single stuff is the Soul, which is present in the form of consciousness.

The experience of birth, life, death, which happens within the universe is merely an illusion.

The form, time, and space are within the universe. Without the form, time and space there is no universe.

The universe is present only when the mind is present. The mind is present when ‘I’ is present.

From the standpoint of the Soul the Self, the universe is merely an illusion. If the universe is merely an illusion, then the experience of birth, life, and death happen within the universe is merely an illusion. 

If the universe is merely an illusion, then the form, time, and space are merely an illusion. If the form, time, and space are merely an illusion, then the mind is merely an illusion. 

If the mind is merely an illusion, then the ‘I’ is merely an illusion. If the ‘I’ is merely an illusion then the substance and the witness of the ‘I’ which is the formless Soul alone is real and eternal. 

Remember:~ 

Sage Sankara: ~ “VC~ All this universe which through ignorance appears as of diverse forms, is nothing else but Brahman (Consciousness) which is absolutely free from all the limitations of human thought.

When you finally realize the Self  ‘is not you but the Self is the Soul then you will realize the world in which you exist is merely an illusion created out of the Soul. The Soul is present in the form of consciousness.

Sage Sankara says:~ VC-47-  All the effects of ignorance, root, and branch, are burnt down by the fire of knowledge, which arises from discrimination between these two—the Self and the non-Self.

Remember: ~ All is consciousness. The whole universe is consciousness. From consciousness, the universe comes. When the universe disappears, the consciousness still remains without form, time and space.

If one says this universe is real then:~

A person, who stamped his foot on the ground to refute to show the world, is real, ignore that in a dream he would do exactly the same--stamp his dream foot on the ground and assert it to be real. 

If you say you having flesh body in a dream, the dream becomes unreal when waking takes place. Similarly, the waking becomes unreal when you realize the ‘Self is not you but the Soul, which is present in the form of the consciousness. 

If the waking is unreal then your experience of the birth, life, death, and the world within the waking experience also is unreal (illusion). 

The question is based on the waking entity (you or ego). Whatever is based on the waking entity (ego) is based on the dualistic perspective. 

You have to learn to view the worldview on the nondualistic perspective then only you will be able to have the Soulcentric view of the worldview. 

In Advaitic Self-awareness, the ego is not considered as ego, even though the ego is present, the body is not considered as a body even though the body is present, the world which confronts him is not considered as the world even though the world is present, the duality ceases even though the duality is present, because of wisdom everything is considered as consciousness. Thus there is conscious oneness.

Remember:~ 

Only in ignorance, the world in which we exist is an illusion created out of the Soul, the Self. 

The world is both real and unreal. It is real because it is a manifestation of consciousness, but is unreal, in the sense, that it is not absolute and eternal like consciousness itself.

Peoples the approach is more practical, and they stuck with the reality of the world, they take it as real. That is why all the confusion. 

The look of an object will depend upon the medium through which the observer views it. In fact, our mental and intellectual conditions determine the world, observed and experienced. The commoner viewing the world will see differently from a Gnani viewing the same world. Each one interprets the world that they see in terms of their existing knowledge. The commoner sees everything based on the ego and, therefore, experiences the birth, life, death and the world as a reality, whereas a Gnani sees everything as consciousness and he is fully aware of the fact that, there is no second thing exists other than the Soul or consciousness. 

Thus, all the egocentric knowledge has to be bifurcated to realize the ultimate truth, which is beyond form, time and space.

Rig Veda: ~ The Atman is the cause; Atman is the support of all that exists in this universe.

Bhagavad Gita says: ~ Brahmano hi pratisthaham ~ Brahman (God) is considered the all-pervading consciousness, which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material. (14.27). 

When Bhagavad Gita says God is considered the all-pervading consciousness which is the basis of all the animate and inanimate entities and material then no second thing exist other than consciousness. Thus, the whole universe and its contents are nothing but an illusion created out of consciousness. 

Sage Sankara says you must first know what is before you. If you cannot know that, what else can you know or understand? If you give up the external world in your inquiry, you cannot get the whole truth. 

Chandogya Upanishad:~ One who meditates upon and realizes the 'Self' discovers that everything in the cosmos-- energy and space, fire and water, name and form, birth and death, mind and will, word and deed, mantrams and meditation--all come from the Self. :~Santthosh Kumaar