Existence as Relational Difference: A Universal Phenomenological Formalism of Non-Equilibrium States

We propose a universal phenomenological formalism in which all observable phenomena are described as the difference between two symmetric relations. Regardless of domain—physical, social, psychological, or artistic—a state variable appears only as a non-equilibrium quantity expressed in the form A = B − C. Equilibrium corresponds to the vanishing of this difference (A = 0), rendering the state phe- nomenologically unobservable. Crucially, we show that equilibrium points are generically unsta- ble, and that the strength of a phenomenon is governed not by the magnitude of A itself but by its local sensitivity near equilibrium. This framework explains why forces, success, stress, and emotion emerge most strongly near balance points rather than far from them. The formalism provides a unifying relational principle underlying diverse phenomenological theories.