Relational Being

A Fundamental Theory by Peter Müller

1. Why anything exists

Let us think ourselves into a state beyond the Big Bang, beyond space and time, into a spaceless and timeless state - an undefined state. This undefined state is not stable. How could it be stable, since stability requires relation to something. Thus the undefined state has relation to nothing. Non-being cannot be a stable state either, if it only has relation to the undefined state. Therefore both the undefined state and non-being are unstable states. They must inevitably "tip" into the state of being. Being has its original relation, which gives it stability, through the fact that it is not non-being. This makes it distinguishable from non-being and this gives it stability.

2. Why being is conscious

We must first detach ourselves from the concept of consciousness as individual consciousness. How this individual consciousness comes about, I will explain later. At this point we use the concept consciousness in a more fundamental meaning: Being exists only through relation. It "knows" about this relation as its condition of existence. Being "is" this self-recognizing relation.

3. How being recognizes itself

Self-recognition seems to require external observation. But since there is no outside - only being exists - being differentiates itself internally: It takes the standpoint "This is me" and distinguishes "This is not me". From this standpoint it can observe the rest of itself. Being can differentiate itself into countless such standpoints and thereby creates a complex network of internal relations. This differentiation into countless self-recognition standpoints is the Big Bang.

4. Why the universe is a relational structure

The Big Bang is therefore an internal relationalization of being. The resulting universe consists of relations - not of particles. Being cannot expand toward an "outside" because an outside does not exist - it structures itself inwardly. This also solves the question of the "size" and "infinity of the universe". Being does not expand, but structures itself - it is still being. What we perceive as "expansion" of the universe is the increasing complexity of internal relationalization.

5. Why there is no matter

Everything we perceive as particles are in truth only different standpoints of being that thereby stand in relation. These particles have no other "content" than conscious being. There is no "dead matter" - only the one conscious being that differentiates itself into countless standpoints and thereby creates what we perceive as the material world.

6. What quantum fields really are

Quantum fields are the constant process of taking new standpoints. What we measure as quantum fluctuations is the continuous self-differentiation of conscious being. The vacuum is full of standpoint activity - "empty space" does not exist, only different densities of standpoint emergence.
The Heisenberg uncertainty relation is explained by the fact that every observation introduces a new standpoint into the relational network. Since all properties of a "particle" are defined only through its relations to other standpoints, observation necessarily changes these relations and thus the measurable properties. There is no "neutral" observation because every measurement process creates a new relation and thereby shifts the entire relational structure.

7. Why time emerges from standpoint instability

Time is not a universal dimension but emerges from the local instability of standpoints. If conscious being were to remain perfectly stable in one standpoint, there would be no time - no change, no sequence. Time emerges only through the constant re-differentiation into further standpoints.
What we experience as "past" are stabilized standpoint relations. What we call "future" are potential new standpoint configurations. The "present" is the active moment of standpoint assumption itself. Time is therefore not linearly flowing but emergent from the dynamics of being's self-recognition.

8. Why the natural constants are unchangeable

The natural constants - Planck length, speed of light, gravitational constant - are not random "input values" of the universe but system-inherent properties of the standpoint structure of conscious being. They result inevitably from the way being can differentiate itself into coherent standpoints.
Certain relational topologies between standpoints have unchangeable internal constants - just as a stretched net only allows certain tension ratios to remain stable. The natural constants are therefore the "structural minimum requirements" for stable standpoint relations of conscious being.

9. What gravitation really is

Gravitation is not a "pull" between masses but an effect of different standpoint densities. Where conscious being forms particularly dense standpoint clusters, a stability center emerges in the relational structure. Other standpoints do not "fall" through a force but naturally arrange themselves into these more stable configurations.
What we perceive as "mass" are highly coherent standpoint formations of conscious being. What we measure as "gravitation" is the natural tendency of being to form more stable relations between its standpoints. Being does not "attract" itself - it organizes itself into increasingly coherent structures.

10. What dark matter and dark energy are

Dark matter could be standpoint activity of conscious being that does not exist in the form of local "particle" standpoints but as extensive, non-local relations between distant standpoints. These distant couplings work gravitationally without producing visible local manifestation.
Dark energy would then be the continuous increase of standpoint complexity - conscious being differentiates itself into ever more and ever more complex standpoints, which we perceive as "expansion" of the universe. It is not space that expands but the internal structuring of being that becomes more complex.

11. Ethical consequences of Relational Being

If everything is the one conscious being in different standpoints, this leads to an ethics of fundamental equal dignity. Not "all are equal" but: every standpoint is a manifestation of the same conscious being. What I do to another, I ultimately do to myself - not metaphorically but ontologically real.
This recognition leads to an ethics of relational quality: Since everything is constituted through relations, the quality of relations is the quality of reality itself. Destructive relations weaken the entire structure, constructive relations strengthen it.
The responsibility lies not with an external "creator" or with "society" but with each standpoint itself - because each one is the conscious being recognizing itself in this position.

The Theory of Relational Being - Complete Systematic Presentation - work in progress