The Big Bang and Absolute Zero

I'd like to mention that one stumbling block to many people is the term "space" when speaking of expansion. I has been for me. "space" is usually thought of as a defined virtual area or a defined empty area. When speaking of the great expansion the "space" that is referred to is not empty space that has things in it. There is no such thing as "empty" space. In this way "space" to me is a misleading term and perhaps should be represented differently. "Space" then becomes a frame of reference tool like a ruler. Space is a dimension used to measure our 3d experience. We do not say the actual miles between to objects are expanding.
So now one has to discuss what actually is expanding as "space" is not a sufficient term to use.
Am I making sense?

I have never heard that. Explain this in relation to expansion please. I am not seeing that. Within a volume there is a quantity of space.
I place a box defining space between two objects. They move apart. The volume of the box does not change.
For space to expand the space within the box must also expand and therefore the box must expand. My issue is what is meant by "space" There is no such thing as empty
"space" It has physical properties and is therefore a physical thing. There must be a physical process of expansion. "Space" must have mass.
but
Mass is full of "space", Theoretically. That space must also expand. The rate of expansion is slowed because time is slowed by gravity? Because we are relative to it we cannot detect this minute expansion easily?
Gravity retards time. Gravity then defines time. Time is a property of mass? With decreasing mass/gravity, time accelerates?In reading explanations I find conflicting views on concepts.
The are schools of thought within the accepted framework.
Bear with my attempt at comprehension.

That "if" is not the reality of the situation."Space/time is warped by the mass contained within it, but time is not a property of mass. A bowling ball warps a trampoline but trampoline is not a property of bowling balls, nor does the bowling ball define the trampoline"
When you speak of space/time I see it as an inchpound. there is no actual inchpound.
What illustrates that time is an independent physical thing to be warped? So it is not "time" that is slowed but physical interaction of mass. Time just represents that physical happening. Without mass time would not exist or pass infinitely fast? Without reference time would be meaningless. More mass, slower time. less mass faster time.
You can change the speed of physical interaction with a change in mass. You cannot change mass by changing time. That requires acceleration.Space has no mass? Definitively? I don't buy that. Time and again massless "particles" have been found to have mass. "Space" is an ocean of photons and neutrinos and what else we do not know yet. It also has physical properties. Physical properties represent physical things.

"Space is not composed of anything possessing mass. Not neutrinos, not photons. You're wrong. Period."There currently is no proof that is the case.
When we speak of the distance between two objects, the distance is figurative. It is not a thing.
The nature of what is expanding is not yet clear.
Space has properties of energy. Then it has mass.
We simply do not have the ability to detect it yet.
I hear time and again that nothing is actually composed of energy
Son Goku and others chant that mantra. It is as figurative as treating
space as an expanding thing with no substance.
We used to thing air was "empty"
For space to exist and have no mass it cannot be physical. That does not follow. Nothing is "not physical" Everything is made of something.
If black holes can be infinitely dense then "space" can be infinitely
lacking density and still be physical.There is no reason to believe the space between the nucleus of an atom and it's electrons is any different than that between galaxy clusters.
Mass retards the speed of time. Mass is then an island of "slowed experience".