Thoughts:

After waking up, praying, and thinking. . . I realized a few things:

All of "the Dead" were restless, and had some sort of vice. There were none among them that I would call "at peace" even during life. They all had some kind of fretful greed or pursuit.

The Living seemed to give off "scents" or "sounds" that attracted the Dead that had the same interests or vices as the Living.

There was a small group of people the Dead did not gather around - these people gave off a different "scent" or perhaps none at all. In the dream, this unique group of people seemed focused on something outside of themselves. They also visually appeared "beautiful" to me, although upon close analysis, the beauty was also in their focus. Self-control, love, self-discipline, soberness, joy, productivity, generosity, courage. . . all of these things came to mind as I searched for a commonality.