I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt this way! I think the rigorous, scientific approach to modern day life takes a lot of the mysticism out of life, it's nice to know that there's at least one fantasy that actually exists. The fear of death thing is pretty interesting too, it's probably linked to that last point in a way. I read a chapter in a Parapsychology textbook a while back about OBE's and it mentioned that the biggest theme in almost every person who experienced an OBE was reduced fear of death.