Time

Does Time actually exist in the world outside of ourselves or is it intuited (an evolutionary awareness)? Perhaps our rational self invented Time as a convenient way to simplify complex spatial relationships between objects.
Whatever the case, Time is a rich field for mythological and evolutionary consideration since it seems to be a perfect example of mythological thinking [insightful but not necessarily factual] and possibly intuitive (the result of evolution).
We talk about time as if it were a commodity -- "I will do it when I have time...," as if it were currency -- “Spend some time with me ...," as if it were a place -- "I won’t forget the time we met....” It is a word that is defined more by our awareness of it than by any real understanding of it.
Let’s suppose that time is a measurement much like any other extension. If it is like up and down or forward and backward or left and right, then there must be a real tomorrow and a real yesterday, and our present position in time is simply where we happen to be in relation to the two, so we should be able to move forward in time faster than we are moving at present, and we should be able to move backward time-wise simply by turning in the direction of yesterday and moving back in time. Since we cannot, surely we must assume that time is not really an extension (a dimension). It must be somehow different.
Perhaps we devour it, use it up. Perhaps today is just digesting what was yesterday and the past is no more, having been transformed into today, then transformed into now; we can truly say, “You have used up your time.” If yesterday has been devoured and is no more, then what is happening to today? Are we being devoured as we speak and transformed into a new us with each second that passes? Is what we remember just a vestige of what once really was and is no more and tomorrow not really there? That is, in fact, what we have come to believe, but is it true? Are we really standing on a precipice (actually a pinnacle) with nothing before or behind us? We do seem to be moving blindly through time, whereas in space we can see what’s around us and act accordingly. In time, we have only our memories to guide us, nothing else, except perhaps our imagination. At this point things really begin to get weird. Science tells us that time is not really an extension; it is not constant; the faster we move the more time we cover, while those moving more slowly than we cover less time in the same time. That, of course, is impossible. Yet it seems to be a fact and is provable. How it is possible brings us back to the question -- "What is time?” It appears to be something other than an extension; something other than another dimension. Is it really?
Suppose time is a field on which extension grows or flows, a canvas upon which dimension is painted. This would make the passage of time depending on speed more understandable, but still confusing. For example, the direction of your travel does not determine the direction of the passage of time. It always moves forward. Suppose you travel to a planet light years away and you travel very fast. Say it took you only a few years. Actually, because you traveled very fast centuries have passed. Suppose you decide to return to Earth and you traveled so fast it only took you another two years. By traveling in the opposite direction, you would not travel back in time; you would move forward in time even more centuries, in addition to those you accumulated traveling to the faraway planet. In fact, traveling in circles very fast propels you forward into time faster than those around you moving more slowly. (Don’t try this. I suspect centrifugal force would tear you asunder.) The point is that the field of time, if it indeed be a field, does not seem to be a dimensional extension.
There are some problems with thinking of time as being a field. If you travel through time more quickly than your slower-moving neighbors, you obviously occupy your own private field of time which you take with you on your journey; it is just moving slower inside your fast-moving time capsule, so to speak, than outside your encapsulated space. Are there then two time fields, one moving over the other? Suppose there is a very large capsule light years in size moving very fast in comparison to its surroundings, and you are within this very large vessel and moving much faster than it is. Do you have a field of time moving over a field of time moving over a field of time? What are the consequences? What does this imply?
Remember the heated discussions in high school and in college cafeterias and dorm rooms about just this sort of nonsense? It didn’t matter that we were totally ignorant. We had just discovered something that contradicted everything we once took for granted, and it was exhilarating. It was something that our teachers and our professors knew little more about than we did, and we speculated in a social environment without bounds. These were moments when learning was so much fun we were motivated to actually study so that we could bring new information to the group.
Politics and social conflict today have made us so serious and, on occasion, even vindictive that we have forgotten how to have fun without indulging our senses. We prefer being ignorant to seeming ignorant, and so avoid the risky subjects and accept as true the claims of those we admire without bothering to verify their claims. I’m not suggesting that we stop trusting those around us, but we need to realize that everyone has an agenda and even our friends fall prey to the temptation of prevarication.