The Meta-Time Spiral
A circle can preserve phase while discarding traversal history. A bounded spiral can keep those traversals distinct while making old distinctions progressively harder to read through noise.
An exploratory encoding model: phase answers where in the cycle; epoch answers which traversal. Epoch is a history label, not a second physical clock.
Choose a record
A monotone radius can retain traversal identity. Because the radius is bounded, successive epochs crowd together near its limits and become harder to distinguish through noise.
This is an illustrative record model, not evidence for a law of physical time, irreversibility, memory in brains, or consciousness.
Identity
A fixed-radius circle discards epoch, but a monotone-radius planar spiral is injective. Two dimensions do not force recurrent trajectories to collide.
Bounded Records
The spiral uses radius as a record of traversal. If its available radial range is bounded, successive records crowd together near the boundary.
Scope
This separates phase, history, and readable records. It does not model proper time, prove irreversibility, or identify a mechanism of consciousness.