Quantum Physics and Ontology:

What Does It Mean to Exist in a Relational Universe?

“What we call reality is simply a shared illusion created by interaction.” — Inspired by Heisenberg, Bohr, and Nagarjuna

 The End of Objectivity

Classical physics once told us the world was a stage, filled with solid, individual things. A rock. A planet. You and me.

But quantum physics shattered that story.

In the quantum realm, particles don’t have definite positions or identities until observed. Nothing exists “as it is” — only as it interacts. Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle wasn’t just physics. It was a philosophical revolution in how we define existence.

 Reality Is a Relationship

Here’s the radical idea at the heart of quantum theory:

“Nothing exists on its own. Everything arises from its relationship with something else.”

An electron has no inherent location or momentum — until it meets another. Even the sourness of an apple doesn’t exist inside the apple itself. It only emerges when we taste it.

This shifts our entire view of being: Existence is not substance. It is interaction. Not a “thing,” but a flow.

 The Self Is Not a Thing

Neuroscience and psychology echo the same insight.

The “self” is not a fixed identity. It’s a narrative, shaped by memory, emotion, and relationship.

Carl Rogers called the self a process, not a possession. Antonio Damasio showed that identity is formed by brain-body feedback loops, constantly rewriting our sense of who we are.

In this view, “I” is not a noun. It’s a verb. A becoming. A dynamic event.

 Ancient Wisdom: Emptiness and Nagarjuna

Strikingly, this mirrors the Buddhist philosophy of Nāgārjuna, over 2,000 years ago.

“Nothing exists by itself. All things arise through causes, conditions, and context.”

This is the idea of śūnyatā — emptiness. Not a denial of existence, but a realization that nothing has inherent, independent essence. Everything is inter-being.

Quantum physics and Buddhist ontology speak the same language: No self-contained reality. Only interdependent arising.

 Becoming a Relational Being

If we take this seriously, it changes how we live.

We are not isolated egos. We are not fixed identities. We are relational presences, always emerging in the space between “me” and “you.”

To exist is to relate. To relate is to change. And to change is to be alive.

Quantum physics doesn't just teach us about electrons. It teaches us to let go of the myth of separateness.

There is no “me” without “you.” No observer without the observed. No self without the world.

“Like mirrors reflecting mirrors, we exist only in reflection. And in that reflection, we become real.”