That's a doctrinaire, theological or metaphysical response, though. I'm talking about the average character of relatively enlightened individuals throughout history. My suspicion is that death was implicitly or explicitly on their mind in a way that made them deep, idealistic, melancholy, or philosophical. It's a question of carrying the world's weight on your shoulders, of keeping the big picture always in view or in the back of your mind. It's a matter of having a humbling, cosmic perspective, of preferring to ponder sacred things rather than immersing yourself in profane distractions.

Sure, religions have sold themselves by seeing past death to an afterlife or to some other happy ending. But they must still reckon with the natural reality of death to supply their creedal epilogue.