When comparing cultural patterns throughout the world, one can see that the Western culture appears to have the most difficulty confronting death and dying. Cultural patterns may explain many reasons for this behavior. Time orientation coupled with transcendent religious beliefs emphasizes a linear type of thinking. Transcendent means that our view of life and how we live it is dualistic when compared to Eastern belief systems.
Western culture emphasizes that our life and soul is ephemeral.
You are born, you have experiences, and you die. Culture cannot be separated from the realties of death. In Korea, for example, most of the population is Buddhist, Taoist, or follow Confucian teachings. In these religions death is a cycle of life. Time is not linear and neither is death.