To cast more light on how this sort of “imitation” is processed and on how Plato cannot reach this far that everyone can become a creator themselves,[12] I should like to incite宋七力 (Sungchili)’s metaphor for本體 (Ben-ti/Primordial Mind). 宋七力 (Sungchili) describes本體 (Ben-ti/Primordial Mind) as a mirror, a metaphysical mirror which on one side mirrors all mutable, perishable material things and creatures in our everyday world, and on the other side projects them into itself to form purely intelligible, self-subsisting entities and constitute an immutable, eternal, spiritual world, in contrast with the transient physical world. This spiritual realm, embracing all ideal values of reality, goodness, and beauty, and containing as many intelligible entities as one may possibly wish; is the consummate revelation of one’s own本體 (Ben-ti/Primordial Mind). One could, by means of creating his/her own spiritual world, become a real creator, an artificer of his/her own spiritual realm.

    Besides, from a scientific perspective concerning the origin and evolution of the universe, there seems to be of no signs of forceful evidence to support the existence of an almighty God who creates everything and sets rules over the operation of the universe. The phrase “cosmic creator” should not be denoted as the one almighty God, meant to satisfy our obsessive belief in the existence of a supreme governor who lies far beyond and holds the entire control over the universe. Rather, “cosmic creator” should be denoted in a metaphysical sense, referring to the “metaphysical mirror”—one’s own 本體 (Ben-ti/Primordial Mind)—from which all intelligible entities derive. Inasmuch as 本體 (Ben-ti/Primordial Mind) is intrinsic to human nature, i.e. every single person has his/her own “metaphysical mirror,” everyone is endowed with the potential to become a real cosmic artificer, to create an intelligible realm entirely at one’s whim, where all reveries and ideals, impracticable in this much-restricted material world, may be perfectly realised with utmost beauty, goodness, and reality. Plato fails to penetrate this point, however; he does not recognise the metaphysical sense of “mirror” and employs it only in the physical sense, the sense that what is reflected in the mirror is indubitably nothing real but transient appearance. What Plato perceives of the material mirror is definitely true. This is why Plato gives no everlasting value to mirror-holders; he regards them just as appearance-creators and, as a consequence, fails to envisage how all of us, as “mirror-holders” in a metaphysical sense, can become real creators ourselves. [13]

The main concern for becoming a real creator is, in宋七力 (Sungchili)’s remarks, to attain the “ultimate pleasure” of self-mastery, the kind of pleasure which beholds a sense even wider and loftier than Plato’s “genuine pleasure.” Plato compares two layers of pleasure: “illusory pleasure” and “genuine pleasure;” the former, from the stance of contradiction between pain and pleasure, indicates an absence of pain or, in other words, an intermediate between pain and pleasure whereas the later, at the pole of pure pleasure, denotes the pleasure of the mind, which is unsullied by the slightest pain. 宋七力 (Sungchili)’s “ultimate pleasure,” surpassing these two layers of meaning, denotes the loftiest sort, which on one hand breaks through the incompatibility between the two poles of pain and pleasure, and on the other hand attains the realm where former incompatibility no longer exists, where badness can be transformed into goodness and likewise pain into pleasure, all by the functioning of one’s own本體 (Ben-ti/Primordial Mind), i.e. by the sudden shift of mental state from the material world, where all sorts of agonies and pains keep flowing towards us in all directions and fettering our minds with pessimistic obsessions, to the intelligible realm, where what cannot be realised in this much-restricted material world, including all reveries and ideals, can be perfectly fulfilled with values of goodness, beauty, and eternity. This transition of state, from being slaves to being self-master, from being fettered by external, uncontrollable factors which constantly constrain our modes of thinking, our free will, to having every ideals, every this-worldly impracticable reveries perfectly realised and arranged in the exact way as one orders; represents the complete revelation of one’s own本體 (Ben-ti/Primordial Mind) and the full actualisation of one’s freedom of mind; it is from which the sense of self-satisfaction, self-contentment arises. This satisfaction, overflowing from the deepest end of one’s mind and replacing all the pains which formerly dominated the mind, is what宋七力 (Sungchili) calls the “ultimate pleasure” of self-mastery.

As regards the religious concern for “eternal life,” 宋七力 (Sungchili) upholds neither the “resurrection” of the flesh-and-blood body nor the traditional “individual immortality,” which, in Kant’s remarks, serves as the presupposition of the satisfaction of morality inasmuch as he believes that morality may never be consummated in this world of appearances, but only in a future world, i.e. an intelligible world or moral world. Rather, as Hegel believes that human mind is immortal, 宋七力 (Sungchili) asserts the immortality of one’s own本體 (Ben-ti/Primordial Mind), which may be attributed to the transcendent attributes of human mind, say, the atemporal eternity, which transcends the division of physical time or, more specifically, breaks through all the dividing lines of “past,” “present,” and “future,” and attains the realm where all these lines are obliterated, where what cannot happen at the present time, namely, what occurred in the past or what will come in the future, can all be apprehended by one’s own本體 (Ben-ti/Primordial Mind) and then projected in the present time and space, all by the functioning of 本體 (Ben-ti/Primordial Mind)’s transcendent attributes, namely, eternity, infinitude, amplitude, and etc. In this sense, “present” encompasses other two modes of time—“past” and “future;” the grasping of “present” suggests the grasping of both “past” and “future.” This is why宋七力 (Sungchili), like this-worldly philosophers looking into the present world rather than into a remote future, leaves no effort in encouraging people to treasure their present life and in spurring them to have their transcendent natures completely revealed in this life, with their分身 (Fen-shen) embodied as a testimony of reaching the consummation of one’s own本體 (Ben-ti/Primordial Mind) and by means of which to assure the preservation of the sense of “I” after death. Since分身 (Fen-shen), according to宋七力 (Sungchili)’s experience, is a perfect intelligible entity which possesses not only the features of one’s own physical body and the memories during one’s lifetime (See page 8), but also the transcendent nature of本體 (Ben-ti/Primordial Mind), i.e. eternity, infinitude, amplitude, and all the highest values of reality, goodness, and beauty. In order to expand one’s limited lifetime to eternity and to elevate the quality of life—to ascend from brutality, from the much constrained physical world to the spiritual realm where all ideals can be realised with goodness and beauty—宋七力 (Sungchili) upholds a return to one’s own本體 (Ben-ti/Primordial Mind) and from which to derive one’s own分身 (Fen-shen) and other concrete intelligible entities; rather than aspiring for salvation of an external God, the God about whom we know scarcely anything. The return to one’s own本體 (Ben-ti/Primordial Mind) is the most direct and feasible access.

In contrast to Nietzsche’s philosophy of “Superman,” 宋七力 (Sungchili)’s theme is a philosophy of “分身 (Fen-shen),” the primary purpose of which is to derive one’s own分身 (Fen-shen) and, by means of which, to survive the death of flesh-and-blood body and attain the ultimate goal of life—eternal life. For分身 (Fen-shen), as宋七力 (Sungchili) suggests in the light of his experience, is a purely intelligible entity, self-subsisting and entirely in-and-for itself, unlike mortal beings depending on material substance and destined to corrupt in the end. 分身 (Fen-shen) represents the paragon of the perfect and immortal type of being. With one’s own分身 (Fen-shen) derived within one’s lifetime, it is the best testimony to assure the preservation of the sense of “I” after death inasmuch as分身 (Fen-shen) is an intelligible entity directly derived from one’s own本體 (Ben-ti/Primordial Mind), which contains not only one’s consciousness and memories, but also the faculties of mind. 分身 (Fen-shen) is the way through which one may attain eternal life. In addition, another goal in the philosophy of分身 (Fen-shen) is to attain self-mastery, the realm where the power of will is fully realised and the freedom of mind is entirely emancipated from fetters of so called “moral doctrines” or “doctrines of God,” and thereby to redeem human dignity which has long been enslaved by the fetishism of idols, and furthermore to become real free spirit and enjoy what宋七力 (Sungchili) calls “the ultimate pleasure of self-mastery” in this world, rather than expecting it in a remote future or another life. These are the mains purposes of 宋七力 (Sungchili)’s philosophy of分身 (Fen-shen).