  Understanding the nature of time remains a key unsolved problem in science.
Newton in the Principia asserted an absolute universal time that {\it `flows
equably'}. Hamilton then proposed a mathematical unification of space and time
within the framework of the quaternions that ultimately lead to the famous
Minkowski formulation in 1908 using four-vectors. The Minkowski framework is
found to provide a versatile formalism for describing the relationship between
space and time in accordance with relativistic principles, but nevertheless
fails to provide deeper insights into the physical origin of time and its
properties. In this paper we begin with a recognition of the fundamental role
played by three-dimensional space in physics that we model using the Clifford
algebra multivector. From this geometrical foundation we are then able to
identify a plausible origin for our concept of time. This geometrical
perspective also allows us to make a key topological distinction between time
and space, with time being a point-like quantity. The multivector then allows a
generalized unification of time and space within a Minkowski-like description.
