if self is the image of god and one's spirit is GOD's; then isn't god self-evident?
genesis 1:27
1 corinthians 6:19-20
john 14:20
i am in the Father and the Father is in me, or I AM that i am?
The concept of self; inner self, is connected to consciousness, with consciousness not easily defined by science. We all have the gist of what consciousness means, since we all own one, and we can see consciousness in other critters.
However, science cannot yet simulate consciousness in the lab; conscious computers, to provide full proof of this concept, that is consistent with the Philosophy of Science. The self is not as evident as one might think. It is more something that we can see and can analyze, introspectively, through meditation and through self observation. Bit not everyone is so inclined.
The image of God is often misunderstood. The image of God is often assumed to be the general superficial aspect of humans, that we can seen in the mirror. This makes the image of God assumed to be something that looks humanoid to the eyes; old human man with a white beard.
But since the quote also talks about the self; inner self and therefore consciousness, the image of God appears to be better describe by the computer term "disk image". The disk image is the code on a computer storage disk, that includes the operating system, software and some other code features such as that which makes the disk self launching or bootable.
Our conscious is self bootable when need arise; arousal to awareness. It can be also transferred to others through language and speaking. The young child learns to be like the older children; disk image transfer.
If science could some day write the code needed to allow consciousness to arise in the matrix of computer code, a disk image of this code and its dynamic data base, would be transferable as another self conscious bootable computer AI.
Humans have two centers of consciousness; inner self and ego. The inner self is much older and is connected to our DNA. The inner self uses a characteristic operating system of the brain, common to all humans, which defines us as a species; human nature.
The ego is much newer, and evolved with the rise of civilization. It has will power and choice apart from the inner self and DNA. In some ways, the ego's consciousness is based on a disk image of the inner self. Its access to the brain hardware is more limited that that of the inner self, therefore it is not as universal in terms of output; unique ego.
The classic traditions of dreams and visions being a part of religions with this output thought to be connected to the gods, is an example of the ego being self aware of the inner self and learning wisdom from the main frame aspects of the brain and its operating system, where the original disk image of God dwells. God is spirit or is more like information based; code, than just hardware such as neurons. It is actually firmware; coded within matter itself.