à quel point... complètement, E.B

1. 12. dépouiller,..1 divest oneself of all human weakness.' The common use of dépouiller is with an accusative and de, meaning 'to strip a person of.' With an accusative of the thing put off it is only used in a more elevated style, e.g. in the Biblical phrase dépouiller le vieil homme, 'to put off the old man,' and in poetry with words like colère, haine, &c.

1. 13. tiennent '.. .au ccettr very often has a dative of the person, " cette galère lui tient au cœur," Molière {Fourberies de Seapin). It is thus used of strong feelings both of attachment and the reverse. Perhaps one might render it here 'are more bound up with one's existence.'