We seem to perceive time indirectly. Examples of how include our feelings, seeing changes in environment with temporal associations, and even counting the seconds that we generate. We are perceiving the passage of time in these cases as observed change in the perceptible state of the universe.

If time itself is change, then we are directly observing it. If time is something else, and it causes change, then we can’t observe it but can observe the effects. We’ll probably perceive it similarly either way.