I would recommend some reading to the OP that might offer some insightful perspectives on how the "I" arises from what seem like relatively (what a loose word) straightforward chemical and electrical processes. These books helped me to realize why people have and probably will continue to understand themselves as souls within a physical vessel. It is not so different from the way we look at our Windows desktop screen, but understand that the desktop is not physically present anywhere in the circuitry of the computer; rather, it is a projection manifested by many mechanical processes.
The first book is I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter, and is very "pop" in the sense that most everything is explained by lengthy analogies and personal anecdotes. It doesn't pander, though, and will give you a myriad of examples to understand the concept of the ethereal "I" that seems to dominate your sense of being. I am a kind of person that understands things through compariosn and contrast - a "synthesist" - so it was great reading for me, if a little less in-depth than I prefer.
The second book is Philosophy and Simulation: The Emergence of Synthetic Reason by Manuel Delanda. It provides an exhaustive and scientifically rigid description of the phenomenon we call "emergence" and, while not delving right into the concept of the "I", provides a robust framework onto which you can apply understanding about all kinds of complec emergent systems like social groups, individual consciousness, romance, and evolution of a species. The writing is dry, technical, and has many run-on sentences with sparse use of the comma, so it is not as relaxing a read as the Hofstadter book. Nevertheless the two books compliment one another very well.
And of course I always recommend Carl Jung's writing, as he masterfully synthesizes the scientific and religious aspects of perception of the self and "I" without getting too wrapped up in dull psychology. The book Man and His Symbols is a good starting point since it can be very useful without needing any background into Jung's work or even any understanding of psychology in general.