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Oops ! I meant to write that a clock on the ground shows less time than a clock in a plane flying high above the ground.

Sorry about that.

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"What is time" is a deep question on the nature of reality- some work in "cellular automa" indicates possible models. According to some paradigms the universe is the way it is because "we wouldn't be here if it weren't" the "anthropic principle". It seems that the universes properties are based on a type of "DNA" a chain of properties that are descended from the evolution of the visible universe in question. This includes strangely the dimensionality of the universe- ie. 3x Space+ 1x Time- some possibilities may be unstable.

Dear Banjo Paterson,

«I, personally, am not inclined to see time as reality any more than the OED suggests I should.»

Correct. The OED does not claim that time is absolutely real, only that it is real relative to the existence of events.

«For me, reality is all the physical matter and energy in the universe.»

Einstein discovered that physical matter is in fact nothing but energy.
One could relate to energy as the subtle substratum of matter, and matter as a condensed, or gross, form of energy.

Hindu scriptures predicted this and also tell us that there are still three subtler levels of existence as the substratum of physical energy, that what science discovered in the 20th century is only the tip of the iceberg.

Scripture further tells that our feelings and thoughts belong to these subtler levels.
Thus feelings and thoughts are material too, but subtler than energy, and can be condensed into physical energy and then further condensed into physical matter. Perhaps the study of quantum mechanics will one day discover that too - who knows?

But then scripture also tells us that none of that, none of these 5 levels constitutes Reality, that even the subtlest of them is still only relatively real, that only God is Absolute Reality.

«If and when all that finally disappears, that will be the end of time !»

By definition, time cannot end, because "ending" depends on time, so the question "WHEN will time end?" is unanswerable.

In time, as the clip shows, all matter will dissolve into energy. Then all energy will dissolve into thoughts, and thoughts will then dissolve as well into the subtlest layer of existence. Still, none of that will end time, which is within that subtlest layer.

While time never stops, the illusory experience that it is supposedly real can stop for you once you decide so and make the effort to step out of time. That does not make you immortal, because you already are, it only make you realise that to be the case, that you have been immortal all along.

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Dear Yuyutsu,

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You wrote :

« By definition, time cannot end, because "ending" depends on time, so the question "WHEN will time end?" is unanswerable »
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The way I see it, Yuyutsu is that if we consider that time is simply the sequence of events and the course of evolution, the phenomenon of time ceases to exist (ends) when all reality (physical matter and energy) has disappeared and there are no longer any events nor evolution.

No reality = no events and no evolution = no time = the void. :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Void_(philosophy)

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Here is the link again :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Void_(philosophy)

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Dear Banjo Paterson,

«if we consider that time is simply the sequence of events and the course of evolution, the phenomenon of time ceases to exist (ends) when all reality (physical matter and energy) has disappeared and there are no longer any events nor evolution.»

Reality is much more than physical matter and energy.
True, science predicts that all matter will eventually dissipate and scripture further predicts that in the longer term energy too will eventually dissipate, but even then, events (such as thoughts) will still continue to occur in subtler levels, and that undercurrent will be sufficient to keep time running.

Whether the above is true or not, "time ends when" is logically contradictory: if there is no time then there is no "when" either. Same for "when there is no time", such expressions that speak of "when" indicate that one secretly still believes in time's absolute existence and is unable to let go of that idea even while they claim otherwise.

«No reality = no events and no evolution = no time = the void. :»

The expression "no Reality" is similarly self contradictory. If one makes such a claim then they ought to be asked, "Is there REALLY no Reality?"!

It is possible to conceive of there being no time, no events and no evolution, but that would not imply the absence of Reality.

Time, space, events and evolution, all depend on Reality, but Reality does not depend on there being time, space, events or evolution.