Review
———
Title: At-One-Ment: Embodying the Fullness of Human-Divinity
Author: Thomas Wirthlin McConkiePublisher: Faith MattersGenre: Religious Non-fiction Year Published: 2023Number of Pages: 228Format: PaperbackISBN: 978-1953677167
Price: $15.99
Reviewed by Conor Hilton for the Association of Mormon Letters
Thomas Wirthlin McConkie’s At-One-Ment: Embodying the Fullness of Human-Divinity is more than a book—it’s a guidebook, a challenge, a map, an invitation, a gentle provocation to a new way of life. This is partially figurative language to describe the experience of reading At-One-Ment, but it’s also a reflection of the layout and design of the book. Thomas has embedded journal exercises and other invitations to reflect and ponder and write, alongside QR codes that guide you to meditation practices, voiced by Thomas himself.
Typically, I skip over these sorts of extras, rushing through the book’s prose, inhaling it like information meant purely for my mind. But, in the interest of fairly reviewing what Thomas wrote and put together here, I decided to move more slowly and be sure to do at least some of these exercises and meditative practices. Doing so truly opens up the world of the book, modeling many of the ideas and principles that Thomas writes about, giving the book a power to reach mind, heart, and body.
I’ve followed Thomas’s work casually over the years (ages ago, I was particularly impressed with his insistence on growing ‘up’ and ‘down’ in his Navigating Mormon Faith Crisis: A Simple Developmental Map, an idea that he remains committed to and mines for even more insight here). For much of that time, I thought of Thomas as a sort of Buddhist-Mormon, bringing together these two different worldviews, even interpreting Mormonism through his Buddhist experiences. However, reading At-One-Ment demonstrates to me the thoroughly Mormon roots of his thinking. While his language is often reflective of his study of Buddhism, adult human development, and mystical Christianity, Thomas’ thinking is undeniably, unashamedly, and unexpectedly Mormon. I loved seeing the ways that Thomas is mining Restoration scripture for new insights into what it might mean to fully embody our ‘human-divinity’.
At times, I found myself a bit unsure of what exactly Thomas meant by a particular phrase or idea, but typically, when I continued reading, working to open myself up, and letting the book kind of wash over me, I could feel out what the meaning was, even if I couldn’t quite articulate it. (If that feels a bit too woo-woo-y for you, perhaps this is not the book for you.)
At-One-Ment is a powerful, wonderful experience. A great resource and guide for all Latter-day Saints wanting to live with their minds, hearts, and bodies—a gentle provocation to a new life: more vulnerable, more open, more full.
I will be returning to At-One-Ment: Embodying the Fullness of Human-Divinity again and again, as I strive to more fully embody the humanity and divinity that are my birthright. I hope to see more folks mining the truths and teachings of Restoration scripture in unique and provocative ways like Thomas does here. What great and important things may God yet reveal through us doing such work!