To answer this question, we have to ask a different one.
"What is a spirit?"
I believe that a human soul, a human entity, a basic unit of humanness, is comprised of both a body connected to a spirit. Our body is important, but it is not really everything that we "are." There's another dimension of "self" beyond just the (seemingly) random body parts, skin, flesh, bones, etc.
I say "beyond" but I do not really mean that it is not measurable, knowable, empirical - it just isn't yet. I firmly believe that our spirits have some kind of physical substance, some kind of matter that really does exist somewhere. It is not observable with my physical eyes right now, but that is not evidence of its lack of existence. I think there is abundant evidence of my spirit's existence: my thoughts, feelings, beliefs, mind, intelligence, gender (I just offended a bunch of people), choices, potential - everything that exists in some kind of unseen, but real, plane. My identity.
I believe we are spirit sons and daughters of God. We were born of heavenly parents a very long time ago. We made choices before we came to earth. One of those choices was to come to earth and get a "tabernacle of clay." A body - a perishable, changeable, often frustrating place for our spirit to live. For some reason, while in this body, we pass beyond a "veil." We are not able to see/understand/speak with our spirit directly. Something about that fact makes it a. a lot easier to change and b. necessary to walk by faith.
A ruthless, cynical, selfish man who cares only for himself and his immediate, temporary physical well-being might lack faith, or connection/understanding/willingness to learn/etc. about his spirituality. But he does not lack spirituality because he does not lack a spirit. He has one. If he were truly honest with himself, he would be able to recognize and admit that he has had spiritual experiences. A spiritual experience would be something that relates to the non-physical parts of one's self, beyond the material, tangible world. It might be difficult to admit or recognize these experiences for what they are, especially if you've never been taught to recognize your spirit. But that doesn't mean it's not real.
The religious phrase I would use to describe a spirit is my "divine nature." It is the piece of ourselves which we inherited from God. We have two sets of parents: our earthly parents, who gave us our bodies, but also our heavenly parents, who gave us our spirit. We inherit our spirit from them. It is the divinity within; it drives a desire to be better than animals and more like God.
Without a set of religious vocabulary to describe these ideas, using only secular words, I would describe my spirit as "my heart and my mind." It isn't just my heart, though for me personally, my spirituality is most often tied to feelings. But it is also impressions and thoughts, and choices in what I believe.
Someday, we will probably be allowed to see "where" exactly - like on what plane - the spirit resides. We probably get closer to that reality as science progresses and we study the brain, DNA, psychology, synapses, etc. I do not think that they are wholly unconnected entities. I know our bodies must have been extraordinarily important for our spiritual progression, because otherwise why would we agree to subject ourselves to the pain and misery of living in one? There must have been some powerful reasons for choosing this life.
After we die, our spirit will depart from our body for a time. Someday, all of us, regardless of what kind of life we led, will be reunited with a perfect version of our body. Personally, I do not believe that when we are resurrected, the individual particles of our bodies all somehow magically morph together to recreate ourselves out of the exact same molecules and atoms. I don't really see how that is possible, though the basic fact is that just one single human cell contains all the blueprints to our entire body - its DNA.
If we knew the details about the physical nature of our spirits, this earth experience would not be a test. It would not be about whether or not we choose to be and do good with our lives, regardless of our circumstances. Instead of measuring our willingness to follow God, it would measure our intelligence and critical thinking skills. Apparently that was not the test that we needed in order to determine our divine destiny.
Because part of me is a spirit, God can talk to my spirit. Otherwise, he would have to talk to my body, or not at all. If he talked to my body, if I saw God with my physical eyes, it would no longer be a test. Rather, I would most likely lose some (or most) of my agency.
Some people, for some reason, see/converse with heavenly beings/God with their physical body. I do not expect that will ever happen to me. I have had experiences where a strong impression in specific words came to me from outside of myself, though. I imagine most people have, but I could be wrong about this.
Somewhere within or beneath the layers of cynicism and animalistic depravity of this hypothetical man is his unique divine worth, his potential to become something better, his innate agency aka his ability to choose. Perhaps he is willfully choosing to close his "spiritual eye." But he still has the potential to open it and allow God to touch and change him. Nobody is so far gone that he is cut off from access to the ability to change and become better.
That is the entire purpose of Jesus Christ's atonement: to allow for all of us ruthless and cynical men and women to change and become someone better.
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