We have explored time, body/embodiment, and identity as separate categories through the postwar cohort's experience, in the context of the Sixties, up to the present and looking forward to the future. In reality, embodiment, time, and identity are inseparable. We could have chosen any slice of time, for instance the previous generation, to dig deeper into those categories. The choice of the Sixties is illustrative of the relationships of time, embodiment, and identity within the postwar generation. These relationships are not unique to the Sixties, but a close look at the postwar cohort provides a window into the seamless interaction between temporality, ageing embodiment, and identity. In this chapter, aspects of time, embodiment and identity are sometimes discussed separately, yet it is important to remember that they are in constant interaction with each other, creating a whole. From the neurobiological dimension (body) of identity production, to the simple fact that without a body we are only someone else's memory of our identities, time, embodiment, and identity are in unbroken interaction with each other. Yet, it is difficult to grab onto and maintain a hold on the constant interconnections – they are slippery. A lack of subtlety in the English language makes it difficult to express the interknitting of these elements of our being. One word that does express this interconnection is the Greek term ‘chiasm.’

A chiasm is an x-shaped configuration. Lefebvre (1992/2004) argues that the point of intersection is of foremost importance to this shape. The chiasm is useful as a visual representation of two elements profoundly connected. In this case the arms of the chiasm represent time and embodiment. Identity, time, and embodiment come together at the nexus. Identity is inseparable from embodiment and time. It is useful to imagine identity energized at the point where time and embodiment meet in the chiasm. This chapter is a discussion of the chiasm.

Nexus

It is in the chiasm that culture and nature meet. There may be no moment in our lives when we become more aware of our bodies living within temporality than when we perceive the length of time lived within our changing/ageing bodies. The biological body, within the temporal dimension, is undeniable – a seamless yet visible reality.