Part of the problem is that as mobile beings, we experience life as a sequence of events, in order to navigate and then communicate narratively, so the flow of time from past to future is fundamental to our being, but the reality is that change turns future to past. Tomorrow becomes yesterday, because the earth turns.

So time is an effect, like temperature, pressure, color, etc. Think frequencies and amplitudes.

Given much of human history and civilization has been about getting everyone following the same narratives, playing by the same rules, seeking the same goals, using the same measures, etc, it seems there should be a universal time, but there is rabbit time, turtle time, tree time, etc. Think metabolism.

Since we all try playing the same games and following the same rules, for the same goals, it becomes a race and we are all on rabbit time, but the turtle is still plodding along, long after the rabbit has died.

What enables life to be so complex and diverse is that everything doesn’t follow the same rules and seek the same goals and run at the same pace. Everything finds its niche, whether it’s being part of a larger whole, or just finding a gap to breathe.