I love your heading BTW!
My mother and I were discussing this exact thing this afternoon, where we felt that he now is either very happy to be alive and well in another sphere of being, or he is very sad and upset about it, having spent his whole life discounting the reality of it.
Of course this is based on my very own belief structure :)
If the prodigal son is to be believed then he is in open arms of those that loved him.