SoulCollage® as a Third Thing
Original analog collage by Chris M Murchison (2023)
I was in my art studio the other day, working in my visual journal, when I suddenly found myself in tears. I was neither sad nor upset—I was moved. Sitting in the dedicated space of my studio, surrounded by evocative materials and stirring music in the background, something inside of me clicked into alignment. I experienced an opening up of my heart and a surge of creative energy. The tears were like a gasp of awe. As I engaged my materials that afternoon, an intuitive artistry poured through me, guiding my hands and choices to make the most intriguing pieces of art. The beauty of that moment touched my soul. It was perfect.
When I sit down to collage, I am often in search of some truth—an honest expression of myself in the moment, the pursuit of beauty, or a creative inquiry into a big question or challenge. This is where the process begins, as an invitation to my soul to guide me. The process flows mysteriously from there and reliably leads to an unexpected but satisfying end. The resulting collage captures that moment and becomes an artifact, an embodied token, of who I was and what was expressed. And as an artifact, I can revisit it time and time again to be reminded of that moment—and to continue to learn and grow from it.
Collage has this way about it. The Quaker writer and educator, Parker Palmer, wrote about what he called a “third thing.” “Rightly used,” Palmer said, “a third thing functions a bit like the old Rorschach inkblot test, evoking from us whatever the soul wants us to attend to.” Under this definition, Parker might consider collage a “third thing,” because it does not represent the voice of the creator, nor the interpretation of observers, but has a voice of its own that tells the truth. It is this remarkable truth-telling that moves me so much.
SoulCollage® is a powerful third thing for me. The simplicity and intentionality of the process creates a throughline to the soul and its truth. Three years ago, I uprooted myself and moved across the globe, entering the life of a digital nomad and expatriate. Growing up as a military “brat,” this kind of transient life was not unfamiliar to me, but at the age of 60 this re-potting was a different sort of undertaking. On the surface, my life was great and the subject of envy, yet underneath there were challenges I struggled to admit and understand. It was a potent time and in that liminal space, I participated in three SoulCollage® workshops. Each one, with its unique combination of collaging and reflective writing, revealed truths to me about my felt experience, an alchemy of loss and gain, fear and hope, nervous anticipation, loneliness, and so much more.
The deceiving simplicity of the SoulCollage® process, the intuitive choice of a background and a single image or two, revealed so much about my true feelings and positioned me towards self-compassion and a stance of agency: the one who is gold and masterly crafted, the one who is graceful and capable, the one who is resilient and resourceful, the one who can. Like the teary time in my studio, each workshop took me back to soul. I am forever grateful for the inspiration of SoulCollage®. Thank you.
