They reveal L.Ron's core belief that we're all inhabited with the ghostly remains of dead aliens called Thetans, exiled to planet Earth and then killed by an intergalactic warlord.
He has a few magic powers, such as resurrecting the dead, but, having languished in confinement for decades on Earth, and finally escaped, he has soaked up the worst of our habits.
The physical death is when you are no longer alive to walk the earth, and the emotional death is when you no longer see signs of hope and are dead inside.