Listener question: what is the difference between the concepts of true self?

I have been reflecting on the use of the terms consciousness/awareness which appear to be interchangeable in the way some teachers use them and life/animating force/intelligence. I have heard our true self as both awareness and life/animating force/intelligence and although I know they are all concepts I wonder if you could help me understand them as relative concepts a bit better or in fact if they are pointing to the same indescribable truth.