Classical electromagnetism describes electric and magnetic phenomena using fields and Maxwell’s equations. These are typically treated as real entities existing independently of the systems that interact with them: fields in space, forces on charges, and waves propagating through a medium or vacuum.
From a relational standpoint, however, such ontological commitments are unnecessary. There are no independent fields or forces, no substrate carrying energy. Instead, all electromagnetic phenomena emerge naturally as coherence and modulation of relational potentiality.
1. Fields as Descriptions of Relational Coherence
Maxwell’s equations describe observable regularities, not ontological substances. Each “field” can be reinterpreted as:
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a representation of coherence constraints among successive actualisations,
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a map of potentiality patterns across interacting systems,
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a guide to how relational ordering will manifest in empirical phenomena.
Electric and magnetic “forces” are therefore perspectival effects of modulation in these patterns, not intrinsic interactions acting across space.
2. EM Waves as Pattern Propagation
Classically, electromagnetic waves are oscillations in electric and magnetic fields. Relationally:
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Wave-like behaviour emerges from ordered sequences of actualisations, constrained across multiple interacting systems.
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Interference, diffraction, and polarization arise naturally from pattern compatibility across relational horizons.
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Propagation is perspectival: what appears as a wave moving through space is a coherent unfolding of relational cuts, constrained by system-specific potentiality.
No spatial medium is required; the “wave” is the structural form of relational patterning itself.
3. Energy, Momentum, and Photon Interactions
Electromagnetic energy and momentum are classically attributed to fields or photons. Relationally:
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These quantities reflect the tension and stability of patterning across successive cuts, analogous to momentum in massive systems.
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When photons interact with matter, observable effects are reconfigurations of the relational potentiality field that produce energy and momentum transfers as construed phenomena.
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Conservation laws emerge naturally from the stability of patterning under modulation, not from intrinsic properties of objects or fields.
This unifies light and matter within a single relational dynamics framework.
4. Relational Coherence Explains Classical Phenomena
All classical EM phenomena follow directly:
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Reflection and refraction: patterning reorganises to maintain relational coherence at boundaries.
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Diffraction and interference: multiple patterns overlap within a shared horizon, producing emergent ordering effects.
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Polarization: arises from directional constraints in potentiality horizons.
No metaphysical field is needed; all phenomena are constraints on relational patterning actualised across successive cuts.
5. Integration with Photons and Frequency
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Photons remain sequences of null cuts at the limit of potentiality.
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Frequency is the rhythm of these cuts, as construed by system horizons.
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Electromagnetic phenomena are emergent patterns of photon sequences interacting with other systems, producing coherence and modulation that manifest as observable electric and magnetic effects.
Thus, the relational picture unites:
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Photon ontology (null cuts and frequency)
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Horizon dynamics (redshift and blueshift)
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Electromagnetic coherence (interaction patterns and observables)
into a single coherent framework, free of classical field metaphysics.
6. Relational Electromagnetism and Dynamics
Electromagnetism, like motion and light, is no longer an abstract system of forces and fields. It is a pattern of relational coherence constrained across horizons:
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What appears as a “field” is a description of compatible potentiality constraints.
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Interactions are local reconfigurations of pattern stability.
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Wave phenomena are emergent consequences of relational ordering.
This framework naturally integrates with relational geodesics and dynamics, allowing light, photons, and EM phenomena to be understood consistently as constraints and patterns within relational potentiality, without ever invoking independent space, time, or intrinsic properties.
7. Closing Thoughts
The Relational Light series reframes classical electromagnetism from a metaphysical theory of fields and particles to a fully relational ontology:
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Photons are sequences of null cuts.
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Frequency is a pattern of construal across relational horizons.
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Redshift and blueshift are horizon dynamics.
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Electromagnetic phenomena are emergent coherence and modulation of relational potentiality.
Light, in this view, is not something that moves, vibrates, or carries energy independently. It is a relational phenomenon, entirely defined by the ordering, coherence, and modulation of successive actualisations.
Together with the Relational Motion and geodesics frameworks, this series completes a relational replacement for classical kinematics, dynamics, and electromagnetism, providing a coherent foundation for future exploration of quantum relational phenomena.
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