Timelike Realization from Non-Collinear Null Configurations: A Geometric Bridge Between Quantum Phase and Gravitational Time

This work proposes a geometric realization principle connecting lightlike and massive physical configurations through the invariant structure of Minkowski spacetime. A well-known property of relativistic geometry states that the sum of two future-directed non-collinear null four-vectors necessarily forms a timelike invariant. While this result is commonly used in relativistic kinematics, it is typically interpreted only as a possible description of particle production processes. In this work, the result is reinterpreted as a structural constraint on admissible physical realizations. The central idea is that a global configuration containing multiple non-collinear null orientations cannot remain confined to the light cone. Such a configuration necessarily acquires a timelike invariant and therefore admits non-zero proper time. Within this framework, the emergence of mass is interpreted not as the introduction of an independent dynamical property but as the geometric realization of a configuration whose invariant structure lies inside the light cone. The analysis further shows that the invariant mass of a configuration provides a direct geometric measure of the non-collinearity of its constituent null orientations. Perfect collinearity preserves the null structure, whereas any angular deviation produces a timelike invariant. This interpretation establishes a minimal conceptual bridge between quantum mechanics and general relativity. The appearance of proper time simultaneously introduces the parameter governing quantum phase evolution and the temporal structure of timelike trajectories in spacetime geometry. The proposal does not introduce new fields, interactions, or mathematical structures. Instead, it reinterprets invariant spacetime geometry as a constraint on admissible physical configurations. In this view, mass appears as the geometric signature of a configuration that has acquired its own intrinsic temporal structure. Within the broader realization framework developed in related works, the geometric instability of globally null configurations also motivates the existence of a global relaxation process responsible for stabilizing realizable spacetime structures.