From in-book The Way of Kings, we have: Those candle flames were like the lives of men.
This is being used by Nohadon in a metaphor about men and kingdoms. Read tWOK chapter 26: Stillness for the metaphor.
Don't the souls of people appear like candle flames in the Cognitive Realm? How much did Nohadon know? Perhaps his metaphor can tell us a little more about how the Cognitive Realm works?