A Physics-Based Critique of the Philosophical View That Time Does Not Flow

Throughout the world, two different perspectives on time coexist:

• “Is time an actual physical reality that truly exists?”

or

• “Is time merely a concept used to express the relationships among changes of state?”

These two perspectives arise from different approaches. One is a physical interpretation based on actual physical measurements and experimental results, while the other is a theoretical interpretation derived from examining the mathematical structure of the fundamental equations of the universe.

In particular, some theories propose the interpretation that:

“Time does not flow outside the universe, but is simply one component contained within the structure of the universe.”

This is a valid explanation in the sense that time is not an absolute background flowing independently outside the universe, but rather an element defined within the overall state of the universe and the structure of spacetime.

In other words, time can be understood not as an external flow separate from the universe, but as a physical property contained within the structure of the universe.

However, to derive from this explanation the conclusion that

“time does not flow”

or

“time does not exist”

would amount to a “philosophical interpretation” that confuses structural interpretation with physical reality.

Time has a structural character in that it is an element contained within the structure of the universe, but at the same time, it is also a physical reality that appears within that structure as the accumulation of actual physical changes.

In other words, time is not an external flow separate from the structure of the universe, but this does not mean that time itself, as the accumulation of physical changes, can be denied.

In modern physics, time is a clearly measurable physical quantity.

Atomic clocks define time on the basis of regular oscillations that occur during transitions between the energy states of cesium atoms, and these oscillations are actual physical changes.

Within an atom, electrons move between different energy states, and regular oscillations are repeated through this process.

The number of these repetitions can be physically measured, and time is defined through the accumulation of such physical changes.

Velocity and gravity alter the structure of spacetime, and as a result, they affect the rate at which changes between energy states proceed within atoms.

The important point is that the energy states of the atom themselves are not altered; rather, the rate at which the physical changes between those states proceed actually becomes different.

In environments with stronger gravity or higher velocity, even identical atoms show different accumulated numbers of energy-state transitions.

This means that the accumulation of physical change itself has proceeded differently.

This difference is not merely a matter of interpretation.

It is a physical fact showing that the accumulation of actual physical change has proceeded differently.

If time did not exist,

“there would be no basis by which the sequence and accumulation of physical changes could be defined.”

All physical processes—including atomic oscillations, particle decay, and transitions between energy states—can be defined only through the accumulation and sequence of change.

If such accumulation did not exist,

• it would become impossible to distinguish between before and after a change, and
• the very definition of a physical state could no longer be established.

Ultimately, this would mean that all physical processes would be reduced to a single static structure in which no distinctions could be made, and even the possibility of distinguishing one physical existence from another could no longer be established.

Therefore, the explanation that time is an element contained within the structure of the universe is valid, but it is not logically valid to derive from this the conclusion that “the flow of time or its physical reality should be denied.”

Time is not an external flow separate from the structure of the universe, but a physical reality that exists as the accumulation of actual physical changes occurring within the structure of spacetime.

Time may be a subject of philosophical interpretation, but it is also a physical fact confirmed through physical changes occurring at the atomic level and through the results of their measurement.

It exists both as a structural element and as a physical flow that actually accumulates.

From a biblical perspective as well, events are not recorded as simply unfolding automatically within a structure that has already been determined.

Rather, they are recorded as a process in which actual events take shape in time through

• choices and actions.

The Old Testament (Prophecy) does not declare the future to be in a mechanically fixed state.

Rather, it is

“a record of revelation that, through a prophetic structure of figurative expression, shows how choices and the consequences that follow from them come to pass over the course of time.”

Prophecy is

“not a declaration that forcibly fixes the future,”

but

“a revelation that discloses in advance the direction in which events will unfold in time and the consequences that will follow.”

This presupposes that events actually occur in time, and that those events emerge through choices and actions and manifest as the results of those choices and actions.