In a holistic perspective, time is absolute and relativity a direct consequence of the conservation of total energy

We are taught to think that the description of relativistic phenomena requires distorted time and distance. The message of this essay is that, in a holistic perspective, time and distance are universal coordinate quantities, and relativity is a direct consequence of the conservation of energy. Instead of the kinematics/metrics-based approach of the theory of relativity, the dynamic universe (DU) approach starts from the dynamics of space as a whole and expresses relativity in terms of locally available energy instead of locally distorted time and distance. In such an approach, e.g., the frequency of atomic clocks at different states of motion and gravitation is obtained from the quantum mechanical solution of the characteristic frequencies, and the unique status of the velocity of light becomes understood via its linkage to the rest of space. In the kinematic/metrics-based theory of relativity, we postulate the principle of relativity, Lorentz covariance, the equivalence principle, the constancy of the speed of light, and the rest energy of mass objects. The conservation of momentum and energy is honored in local frames of reference, and time and distance are parameters in frame-to-frame observations. In the dynamics-based DU, the whole space is studied as a closed energy system and the energy in local structures is derived conserving the overall energy balance. Any local state of motion and gravitation in space is related, through a system of nested energy frames, to the state of rest in hypothetical homogeneous space, which serves as the universal frame of reference. Relativity of observations appears as a direct consequence of the overall energy balance and the linkage of local to the whole—with time and distance as universal coordinate quantities. DU postulates spherically closed space and zero-energy balance of motion and gravitation. DU does not need the relativity principle or any other postulates of the theory of relativity. Primarily, the theory of relativity is an empirically driven mathematical description of observations, with postulates formulated to support the mathematics. DU relies on mathematics built on the conservation of an overall zero-energy balance as the primary law of nature, which makes DU more like a metaphysically driven theory. Both approaches produce precise predictions. The choice is philosophical—nature is not dependent on the way we describe it.