The most basic philosophical concepts for human life are biological. The idea of avoiding death is present at the very root of life. Successfully avoiding death, at least temporarily, does not require consciousness, nor even conscious control.
Since the very emergence of the first forms of life, those that accidentally "behaved" in a manner that avoided death lived and procreated.
When humans developed consciousness, the idea of non-existence after death became difficult to accept. It contradicts the meaningfulness of what we are genetically programmed to do: avoid death.
Religions attempted a metaphysical answer, but scientific self-knowledge has allowed us to recognize that all religions are merely human constructs.
There is nothing to fear after dying, because once it has occurred (in accordance with reason and science), there simply is nothing.
On the other hand, the fear of dying is consistent with how we are biologically programmed. Dying can indeed be a horrifying experience, for example, when one burns to death, drowns, or, possibly the worst, is tortured to death by humans whose intention is to make one's dying as painful and prolonged as possible. But even in circumstances without aggravating factors, the mere awareness of dying can easily result in death-avoidance panic.
We do not need to be overly concerned about what happens after death. It is the wrong focus, one emphasized by proponents of religions whose claims are, without exception, factually incorrect.
On the other hand, addressing the topic of dying aligns with the dictates of reason. We have a collective interest in making our dying as gentle as possible.
Current societies do not reflect this simple truth, and previous progressive (mostly Marxist) societies were wrong not to teach it in schools, which is why they only partially succeeded in eradicating religion.
The approach of most people nowadays is either to simply avoid thinking about it, or to trust religious institutions that preach that if people just follow their rules, they will not truly die.
There is another biological truth that current societies do not sufficiently address. Namely, before we die, each of us is biologically primed to seek sexual satisfaction. Apart from death avoidance, sexual satisfaction is our only interest that is deeply rooted in our existence.
Using divide-and-rule tactics, religions (especially Abrahamic religions) have taught those under their influence that one must curtail sexual satisfaction in order to satisfy one's interest in avoiding death.
I can easily imagine that a society with a high awareness of what has been stated so far will be much better to live in, and to die in, than societies shaped by religious teachings. Furthermore, extreme religious dogma is the principal obstacle to establishing societies based on the acceptance of everyone's most elementary interests: a comfortable death and, before that, optimal sexual satisfaction.
I do not think that those who have a high awareness of what has been stated so far should wait until the correctness of these assumptions is democratically accepted. Historically, zealous religious adherents have not waited until their worldviews were democratically accepted. Rather, religions typically became majority religions when those who were in power, or came to power, were adherents of a religion. Subsequent generations were then easily educated to accept the teachings of these religions as fact.
In the interest of a better world, it is justified that an intellectual avant-garde (an elitist political party) assumes power over a society by any means, democratic or not. Subsequent generations will easily be educated philosophically and politically in a way that ensures majority acceptance of the new standards.
The failure of Marxism in many countries where it was tried (and implemented by an intellectual avant-garde) can be directly attributed to the fact that, in spite of rejecting religious dogma, Marxism never gave people answers to questions about the meaning of their individual lives.
A political concept for establishing a better society with more personal and sexual freedom in the safest environment possible must be firmly rooted in a philosophical understanding of the meaning of every person's individual life.