ALSSI doesn't usually focus on church announcements or events, but our conversations about Big Ideas do exist within the current context of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In Episode 258, Susan and Cynthia take a beat to discuss a few recent headlines and explore some questions raised by these changes.

Is there a richer text for Christians than the Beatitudes? Yet we don't all think or teach about them the same way. Many Latter-day Saints talk and teach about them as a list of saint-like attributes to which we should aspire, traits that will bring us closer to God and eventual exaltation. But Nadia Bolz-Weber suggests, "What if the Beatitudes aren't about a list of conditions we should try to meet to be blessed? What if they are not virtues we should aspire to? What if Jesus saying 'blessed are the meek' is not instructive but performative—that the pronouncement of blessing is actually what confers the blessing itself?'" In Episode 257, Cynthia and Susan 'dance with the scriptures' in an attempt to discover new ways of seeing and engaging with these familiar verses.

Shadow Work is a phrase that gets a lot of airplay, but it can be hard to get your head around exactly what it means or how it can apply in your life. The "shadow" consists of unconscious, repressed, or hidden parts of our personality. So what might it mean to uncover, understand, and integrate our shadow self? How might this work affect our responses and relationships? "The human soul wants belonging, but the ego really doesn't know how to give it to us. It just...helps us fit in. It helps us show up and be acceptable—and it thinks that hiding the shadow is the thing that's going to do it," explains Jana Spangler. In Episode 256, Susan and Cynthia are joined by Jana for a conversation about the potential benefits of bringing the shadow to light through this specific inner work.