there's a cool isaac asimov story I read a decade or two ago...
some dude was dying and they put his conscience/soul into a spacecraft and sent him into space. He got to live forever as this observational being, soaring thru the universe and soaking it all in. He would never die, but never return to the earth he knew and loved. Just selected by the powers to soar thru eternity.
I read this sober, and it was very intriguing. I'm sure with a wine or two it would have been even deeper.