Time is not an illusion

There is an assumption nowadays that time is merely an illusion. We know how subjective the time sense is; furthermore, with the theory of relativity it is clear that time itself slows down with respect to an object that is speeding up. So it really would not be politically correct to say that my time is better than your time; it’s just different. This sort of thing demotes time to being a variable function derived from what is going on; it is not even kind of a passive Newtonian background for physical action; it is nothing at all. However, what if time were regarded as an active shaper, a causative force, indeed a conscious being, rather than as a mere dimension? How might that change our physics, our philosophy, our psychology? Rather drastically, I think, for there is nothing more fundamental to our perceptual framework than our understanding of time.