The Red Lion - Chapter 41: "The Mirror that Reflects the Past"

"It's all coming back to me now," sang Céline...
And in this chapter, we meet Cornelius' final challenge on his path to Freedom: Ernst.
This young man bears an almost frightening resemblance to Hans Burgner, who was the embodiment of Cornelius when we first met him back in the beginning of this book. Raised in a terrible family dynamic, confined by a number of emotional, mental and physical limitations, and with a burning desire for ... something more, something greater, something better ... but this desire stemmed from selfish purposes, rather than from the desire to be of service.
And so, here we find ourselves, in a position where, with Cornelius, we are required to give our best, be sincere, and nurture that which is real in those who are sent to us and, when they have been given the chance and decided to go their own way, it is our challenge to respect their free will and not keep trying to make them do something they will not.
It is a challenge to be able to both be like God as mother (personal), and to be able to act as God as father (impersonal).
Cornelius' adventure continues, he keeps learning - and hopefully, so do we!