I think of it as a dimension like x,y, and z of three dimensional space. To me time is actually three dimensions and our current perception or our three dimensional universe is but a point in three dimensional time. Our history defines a string (Or noodle if you are pastafarian) curving through three dimensional time with other possible choices existing infinitly in all directions but never experienced. So there is a cord through time slightly thicker than the string that is our history, in which people exist at all like we do now.
Rhizo
Rhizo