"So, time is just a linear series of singularities?"

In response to my recent remarks about the linguistic/semantic/grammatical factors affecting our understanding of the concept of time (or rather my analysis of the ways grammar can lead philosophers to assume and say curious things about time), Professor Hodges asks, "So, time is just a linear series of singularities?"

My response:

As a "metaphysical" phenomenon, time is an illusory grammatical illusion. Grammatically, time is something we "mention in passing" in order to coordinate our activities, tell stories, and/or distinguish things we do, see, say, or have read/heard of.

St. Augustine's remarks concerning time are relevant here. For Augustine, God is eternal and therefore outside of time. God has always existed in an everlasting present, which leads Augustine to conclude that only the present truly exists. The past only exists as a present memory, and the future exists only as a present expectation.

The Conversion of St. Augustine by Fra Angelico