2 The Dual Process: Emergence of Time

In our previous post, we imagined a universe with only a single process: a solitary unfolding event. Alone, it simply is — no questions of duration, sequence, or location made sense. Time and space were absent because they are not intrinsic features of a process; they emerge only through relational construal.

Now, let us introduce a second process into this minimal universe. Two processes, each unfolding independently, create the conditions for something entirely new: temporal ordering.

Time as Relational Coherence

With two processes, we can begin to ask questions like:

• Which process occurs “first”?

• How do the changes in one process relate to the changes in the other?

These questions make sense not because time exists independently, but because we are now able to construe the coherence between processes. Time emerges as the horizon within which processes can be aligned, phased, or sequenced. It is not a container in which events happen; it is the reflexive relation that arises when processes are construed relative to one another.

A Perspectival Cut

Observe carefully: each process still unfolds independently. Its sequence is complete in itself. The “when” only appears when we cut across the two processes and align them. In other words, time is second-order, a product of the relational field, not a property of any single process.

Implications

• Time is not a background flow but a horizon of relational possibility.

• Temporal questions always presuppose at least two processes.

• Our intuition of “past, present, future” is a reflection of the cuts we make across relational fields, not a universal substrate.

Looking Ahead

Adding a third, fourth, or more processes allows us to extend this logic into space: the horizon across which processes coexist and can be aligned in extension. But for now, we see that time itself is emergent, not absolute, and is inseparable from relational construal.

In the next post, we will explore the Relational Field and the Emergence of Space, showing how multiple processes generate the horizon in which relations and extension appear.