An important influence on how the soul manifests is the level of the soul itself.
A high soul is also a clear, strong soul, and whoever has such a soul is more strongly aware of it than someone whose soul is small or low.
The distinction between a great, or high, soul and a small, or low, soul does not have to do with talent, and certainly not with actions.
The level of the soul is simply a trait that exists within each of us.
There are people whose great souls will be revealed in everything they do, in their breadth of vision, in the loftiness of their desires, in their ability to perceive hidden spiritual heights.
At root, the difference between high and low souls is the difference between those whose souls are based on expansive vision and lofty goals and those whose desires and horizons are narrow and confined.
These differences are unrelated to anything that can be explained in terms of material existence.
God distributes souls in a manner that seems arbitrary to us.
Although we do not choose our souls or the way they reveal themselves, all of us are capable of discovering more noble elements within ourselves.
There is inner work to be done, however, and this is important: we must access the higher levels of our souls and cause them to manifest within our active consciousness.
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz