I've been thinking about this thing we call 'time'...

I've been thinking about time, how we perceive it and whether 'now' really is 'now'. What do we mean by now? I think what most people mean is that now is the the very latest event to be occurring in a linear history of time. That now is the leading edge of existence, and that there is nothing ahead of now. But what if that wasn't the case at all? What if where we are 'now' is simply a position in time, neither the beginning or end of it, but somewhere unidentifiable within the flow. For some time, I have seen time like a river. The river flows endlessly, and in fact, cyclically, and 'we' flow along within it. Our point of reference, which we call now, is simply a relative point of perception. The 'future', that we believe doesn't exist yet, is actually just further along the same river, and the past is equally just further along the same river, although (perceptually) behind us, not in front of us. The 'river of time' is constantly braiding, currents swirling, things moving at different speeds along it, sometimes colliding, sometimes flowing in unison. We call these things - from our point of perception - events.    If we understand that time is like a river, it's possible to explain prescience, foresight, dreams that come true, visions. Because of course they are insights into events that are simply flowing and actually occurring, or very likely to occur, further downstream from our point of perception. In other words, we are connected to future events, completely and inextricably. What this means is that if we can open up our perception, we can tune in more effectively to our understanding of the flow of events, and our ability, in smaller or larger part, to influence them. We often have an intuition or gut feeling about 'future' events, and this is because we are already part of them, joined to them and in some way, shaping them. Furthermore, quantum physics seems to show that 'time' can actually run backwards, given that (according to a fascinating article in the Daily Mail): Scientists probed the quantum mechanical properties of single particles The particles don't have a fixed state until they are observed by scientist Study found knowing future outcome of particle also changes initial state  They believe particles change their state due to scientist's knowledge This suggests that time could runs both backwards and forwards If this proves true, it could mean that what we're doing now has been influenced by decisions made by a future version of us, the study claims In layman's terms, we are not only able to influence events, but without us, do they even happen? We seem to be either the creators or co-creators of existence.  And 'time' is therefore something 'we' have invented.  As a writer, it is amusing to consider that we invented time in order to experience drama. Because without time, there is no drama; no stories, no struggle, no triumph and no change. And given that we are story-creating entities, surely that explains why time is so essential to our existence? But also, perhaps this explains that time is simply a construct of our minds?