We suggest you turn to the Tao Teh Ching:
75 People are hungry because rulers eat too much income, too much tax-grain. Therefore they starve, but also because of bad interference from those above. Some turn hard to rule as their rulers do too many things. That's why they're hard to keep in order. If so, the people are not very afraid of death, as they're anxious to make a living. That's why they take death lightly in such cases. So: Those who interfere not with their living that are wise in exalting life. Maybe he who seeks only little after life can excel in making life valuable. But all that have hearts set only little on life could be superior to those who set store by life. -- tr. T. Byrn