The Grammar of Readiness: Ontological Implications of Potential as Inclined Ability: 4 Temporality as Tensional Readiness

Time is the modulation of readiness, not a container for becoming.

Once potential is framed as readiness, temporality itself must be reconsidered. Traditional models treat time as a linear dimension in which events occur — a measure external to the processes of the universe. In a world of inclined ability, however, temporality is the tensioned unfolding of readiness, the dynamic modulation of potential as it seeks articulation.

Each act of actualisation is a local relief of this tension. When readiness inclines and ability finds a compatible context, the potential resolves into instance. But the past is not merely precedent, and the future is not merely awaiting; both are moments of inclining readiness. The universe does not progress in time — it manifests its readiness through time.

Example — Quantum:

A particle’s “decision” to be observed in one location rather than another is a local articulation of its readiness. Temporality emerges not from external sequencing but from the relational tension of the field: the system inclines, the potential resonates, and the outcome becomes instance.

Example — Biological:

The developmental trajectory of an organism is shaped by the temporal modulation of its inclinations and abilities. A seed’s readiness to germinate is not a static property measured by a clock; it is tensioned across environmental and internal gradients. Each moment of growth is a resolution of potential modulated by context.

Example — Social:

A society’s evolution is the temporal unfolding of its inclinations through differentiated abilities. Policy, culture, and social action do not merely occur over time; they are expressions of readiness resolving its tension across multiple, interacting contexts.

In this view, temporality is relational, not absolute. It is the modulation of inclined ability, a measure of how readiness stretches, contracts, and resolves. The cosmos does not exist in time; it becomes through it.

Time is thus the rhythm of reality’s leaning — the pulse of potential seeking expression.