People say “time” is that which marks the beginning and the end (and the duration) of “events.” It begs the question, what are “events”? People then say an “event” is something that has a beginning, an end and a duration in “time.” It then begs the question, what is “time”?
GUTUL says “time” is “change.”
No change, no time, and no Universe.
“Time being in itself” is “change.”
“Time being as itself” does not exist.
Time exists together with space as “space-time” or “space-change” or “space-substance” which is the Universe. The Universe is “space-substance being as itself” and “space-substance being in itself,” the latter of which is “change (in form) and no change (in property)” and is the property of symmetry.
“Our consciousness of time being as itself” is our asymmetrical and dualistic thought of “before versus after.” “Our consciousness of time being in itself” is our “differentiating or discriminating heart” or simply “asymmetry and duality (‘Fen Bie Xin’ 分别心 in Chinese).”