At death one loses awareness of time, space and material. One source suggests a state of "consciousness sans awareness" after death.?

Nope. No consciousness before you was born and no consoousness after you die. The end.

The belief in spirits and God is a defense mechanism to keep hope alive and curb the fear of permadeath.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.