FWIW, for, oh my GAWD, 45 years I have almost always answered the formal cause of a thing by adding ‘ness’ to the noun. It’s smart-alecky because it’s kind of question-begging, but it really is, I think, the way to begin to answer the question.
You seem like a mind of sorts. I wonder how you’d react to my “relativity is a scam” thesis.