What does "time folds in on itself" metaphorically refer to? [closed]

I wonder if it metaphorically refers to time coming to a halt. There are several examples of this phrase in books.

"Time is folding in on itself. No, I correct myself. Time is always folded in on itself, the past like shadows we can’t shake off, and now I feel them surrounding me, wraiths drawing in to choke me."

"When you are in darkness, time folds in on itself, surreal and elastic. It bellows like an accordion, stretching and then collapsing."

"The minutes slip by strangely, like time is folding in on itself, too fast and too slow all at once."

"Time folded in on itself until I couldn't tell if I was homesick for the moment I'd left behind, or already missing the time I was currently in but might have to leave."

I have occasionally met this metaphor (don't ask me where - I can't remember). In all cases I have understood it as follows.

The metaphor views time not as a unidirectional and rigid 1-dimensional scale along which we move (the classical physics view, echoing the view of our 3-dimensional movement through space), but as a ribbon of events that flows over us. From that perspective, the ribbon may fold and bend, sometimes touching us with previous events, and it may move over us slowly or fast as we recall and re-experience past events. If the touch is strong, we may even find it difficult to distinguish the present from the past.