Temporal Topologies of Becoming: 5 The Topology of Duration

Duration emerges from the continuous interplay of gradients, cuts, and reflexive coherence.

Having examined temporal topology, rhythm, sequence, persistence, and horizons, we now synthesise these dimensions into a unified account of duration. Duration is not measured by an external clock, but is the relational thickness of the field’s own dynamics — the lived contour of becoming itself.

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1. Duration as Local Steepness

Duration is experienced where gradients are steep or densely structured:

• Intense local inclinations produce rapid sequences of cuts, perceived as compressed or “fast” time.

• Shallow slopes produce sparse actualisations, experienced as extended or “slow” duration.

• Thus, the felt length of time corresponds to topological characteristics of relational differentiation, not external metrics.

Duration is ontic: it is a property of how the field itself unfolds, rather than a subjective perception imposed on static events.

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2. Continuity and Differentiation

Duration emerges from the balance between continuity and differentiation:

• Continuity is maintained through reflexive coherence, preserving relational integrity across events.

• Differentiation is produced by gradient modulation and local cuts, giving rise to distinctive temporal moments.

• The interplay of these factors produces a thickened, textured experience of time, where past, present, and emergent potential interweave.

This reveals why duration can feel elastic: it is the relational contour of ongoing becoming, rather than a uniform, externally imposed interval.

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3. Cross-Domain Expression of Duration

Duration manifests differently across domains but follows the same ontological logic:

• Physical: particle interactions, wave propagation, and field evolution create temporal thickness along energy gradients.

• Biological: cycles, rhythms, and developmental sequences produce organismic duration through local and global gradient interplay.

• Semiotic: discourse, narrative, and interpretive sequences are temporally structured through semiotic gradients, creating extended or condensed durations of meaning.

Across scales, duration is a continuous property of relational topology, arising wherever gradients, cuts, and coherence interact.

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4. The Ontology of Temporal Experience

From this perspective:

• Time is emergent, not fundamental.

• Duration is topological, not metric.

• Rhythm, sequence, persistence, and horizon are dimensions of relational differentiation that together produce temporal experience.

Temporal experience, then, is a field-sensitive attunement: a navigation of gradients, oscillations, and cuts, reflexively modulated to preserve coherence while remaining open to further becoming.

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Conclusion of the Series

Temporal Topologies of Becoming shows that temporality is inseparable from the relational dynamics of gradients, cuts, and coherence. Time, rhythm, sequence, persistence, anticipation, and duration are emergent aspects of relational topology — ontologically continuous with the logic of gradience and readiness explored in prior series.

Time is not “out there”; it is the living structure of becoming itself, a continuous, differentiated, reflexive field whose slopes and inflections we inhabit and enact.