Quantum and the Lotus
08/26/2018
Some philosophers have gone farther and concluded that nothing, including matter and mind, intrinsically exists. If we trace the history of this line of thought back, it seems to have been first formulated in Oriental thought by Siddharta Gautama over two thousand five hundred years ago. There is no nihilism in this concept, no denial of reality or existence, but rather a profound view of the very nature of existence. If things do not exist in absolute terms, but do nevertheless exist, then their nature must be sought in the relationships that bring them together. Only these relationships between objects exist, and not the objects themselves. Objects are relationships…. Will the physics of the future succeed in making an equation of what is now a purely philosophical vision?
- Laurent Nottale, La Relativité dans tous ses états (Paris: Hachette, 1998), 111.