The 'Arrow' And 'Flow' Of Time Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Davies & Gribbin (1992: 128):

Many people confuse the existence of an arrow of time with the psychological impression that time is flowing or moving in one direction. This is due in part to the ambiguous symbolism attached to the idea of an arrow, which can be used to denote either motion in the direction of the arrow, or simply a spatial asymmetry, as when the arrow on a compass needle distinguishes north from south. When a compass needle points north, it does not mean that you are moving north.

 

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of the General Theory of Relativity, time is one dimension of space-time. The notion of an arrow of time construes this dimension as a vector, that is: with direction as well as magnitude. 

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, time is a feature of processes, and applied to physics, it is the dimension along which processes unfold. In this view, the arrow is the direction of the unfolding, as from the start of a process to its conclusion.

Where time is construed as a dimension, the notion that the dimension itself flows or moves is just as nonsensical as construing a dimension of space as flowing or moving. Objects move in space, and the process unfolds in time.