Bitterness, A Mood And Stars

What is the inner/psychological/spiritual state of a fantasy or sf character when he leaves this world and enters another? Much such fiction is in no way introspective so that questions about inner states rarely arise. However:

"One night when I had tasted bitterness I went out onto the hill."

-Olaf Stapledon, Star Maker (Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1972), p. 11.

After several pages of looking at the stars and questioning the validity of his marital life and domestic existence, this first person narrator embarks on a cosmic spiritual journey. 

Again:

"I was on the walk that most men take at least once in their lives, until sunrise, and no wish was in me for any society other than that of the stars."

-Poul Anderson, "Losers' Night" IN Anderson, All One Universe (New York, 1997), pp. 105-123 AT p. 107.

This first person narrator sees the inter-universal inn, the Old Phoenix, and thinks that accepting its hospitality should shake him out of his (unspecified) mood.

Disclosure of inner states adds depth.