Buck,
In reference to the idea of what I might call this description of time, the concept which seems to be presenting itself is "emergent linearity."
This is because it seems non-linear activity is a more fundamental state, given that much of it is in larger states of equilibrium, or cycles, where some overall balance exists. Even the concept of entropy only really refers to the effective direction of motion within a closed system, yet there don't seem to be any ultimately closed systems. Even the idea that the universe is a singular unit runs up against any number of issues, from where the initial low entropy singularity came from, the possibility of other such universes, unaccounted energies, etc.
So it seems time is a subjective linear projection distilled from this larger context. This plays out in many forms. In fact the very concept of "form" denotes such a projection, as it is created, evolves and absorbed back into the larger network. So its internal timeline goes from start to finish, as its external existence goes from being in the future, to being in the past, whether the form is the lifespan of a fly, or the history of the earth.
E. O. Wilson described the brain of an insect as essentially a thermostat. This really is how reactive life forms perceive reality, as reacting to variation of the present energy, as opposed the the higher order linear ordering of events.
So while our brains exist in the state of present energy which is creating the series of events and thus going from one to the next, our minds are the record of these events, that are receding into the past.
Just as each of us in this contest are trying to formulate and follow the evolving logic to create a sense of our own continuity, to pick our own thread of logic out of the larger field of energy and thoughts, so to is time that emergent linearity that bubbles up out of the field and then folds back into it. Sometimes as part of larger patterns being woven into ropes of time. Sometimes just floating out there on their own.