But that question doesn't really contrast with what I mean to be saying here. Some readers have criticized this article for focusing on the mere moment of death. That would indeed be morbid. But I'm talking about mortality, which is equivalent to our "finitude." I'm talking about the cosmic perspective that encompasses life's existential structure. That perspective is likely at the forefront of someone's mind who's lying on her death bed. So my point is that so-called enlightened folks have managed to force that perspective on themselves even long before they're about to die.

It's also not so much a "fascination" with death as it's a philosophy or a religious worldview that deals directly with the meta-issues that naturally refer to our mortality (our existential structure).