Collapsing Wave Functions: “A” Reality in the Making
By Brent Antonson (Zhivago)
July 2025 — Essay Edition
1. The Ocean of Possibility
The universe, seen rightly, is not solid — it’s a vast, shimmering ocean of infinite possibilities. Each wave is a whisper of what could be: a ripple of potential waiting to be realized.
In quantum physics, particles don’t settle into a single form until we turn our gaze upon them. Until then, they exist as probabilities — a swirling mist of maybes. When we observe, the mist condenses into a singular, vivid story. The universe, in that instant, exhales and chooses.
2. The Taste of Reality
To make this collapse tangible, imagine something luscious and familiar: watermelon versicles — those sweet, sunlit shards that burst on the tongue. Each one carries the memory of sunlight, the signature of heat transmuted into flavor.
So too with reality itself. Every sensation, every color, every breath is a “versicle” of the universe’s unspoken promise. Each one collapses from potential into experience the moment we notice.
What we perceive as “real” is the sum of these micro-collapses — trillions per second — orchestrated by awareness.
3. The Rain of Becoming
Now picture those possibilities as countless luminous raindrops suspended in the air. Each refracts the world around it — sunlight, shadow, scent, time. They hover in infinite patience, awaiting only the gentle act of attention.
When we look, listen, taste, or feel, these raindrops fall. They take form. Our senses become the gravitational field that draws potential into being.
Reality, then, isn’t a fixed structure but a rainfall — each drop a possibility condensing into form under the weight of perception.
4. The Orange of All Reality
Taste an orange. Notice how it becomes orange only when you taste, see, and name it. Before that, it is pure potential. The “orange” is not in the fruit — it’s in the meeting of fruit and observer.
Now imagine that every moment, every sight, every heartbeat, is a version of that same “orange” — the flavor of existence ripened through observation.
5. The Art of Collapse
This is the poetry of quantum life: we are not spectators but participants. With every glance, we guide the universe toward coherence. Each act of attention is a brushstroke that turns chaos into pattern, potential into form.
Perhaps consciousness itself is the great artist — collapsing the infinite wave of maybe into the singular reality of now.
