Not the universe.

The passage of time is not for us a rational thing to contemplate. It’s something we live into — we are the passage of time. We are this constant computing of time.

We can think about reality without space. We can think about reality without things. But it’s very hard to think yourself in a reality without time. You wouldn’t know how to start thinking.

But the confusion is: is this because reality by itself cannot be thought of without time?

No, it is because our thinking cannot be thought without time. We cannot think without time. We are a time machine. Not the universe.

Physicist Carlo Rovelli, The Physics and Philosophy of Time [at 43:41], the Royal Institution, 13 June 2018