Episode 216 (Transcript)The Ultimate Big Deal Part 4 | Spiritual Separators

Episode Transcript

Many thanks to listener, Anne Law, for her work in transcribing this episode!

This episode can be found on any podcast app, or can be listened to here on our website as well. All the notes and resources we cited in the episode are found at this link as well:

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CW: Hi, I'm Cynthia Winward and I'm Susan Hinckley, and this is At Last She Said It. We are women of faith discussing complicated things, and the title of today's episode is The Ultimate Big Deal Part Four, Spiritual Separators. We're going here again, Susan. 

SH: Another temple episode, Cynthia. It takes us a few seasons in between to recover from the last one and then we do another one.

CW: That's because it's the ultimate big deal and I always get sweaty in my armpits when we talk about the ultimate big deal. 

SH: Exactly. I think we all do. 

CW: I think we all do. I just want to remind people who maybe are new to our podcast that the reason why we call it the “Ultimate Big Deal” is that's kind of our franchise whenever we have temple episodes.

So this is part four in that, not that we've had three previous episodes like last week, the week before, but over the last five years, we've touched on this topic specifically in three other episodes. And those episodes are episode 12, 51, 100 and then there was a bonus kind of- 101. 

SH: And the reason that we're doing this is because as a result of a conversation that you and I had, I wrote a Say More piece a couple of weeks ago called “Spiritual Separators”.

So that's where the tagline on today's title comes from. And of course, we'll link to all of our sources and resources today in the show notes. So including that piece, if people haven't had a chance to see it.

I want to start this conversation. With an acknowledgment that we're all having different experiences and if you love the temple and you find peace and joy and spiritual nourishment and everything that you're looking for there, we do not want to do one single thing to take away from that.

We're not trying to change your mind or change your experience or argue with it or, you know, anything else. We just in these episodes want to give space for women who are having different temple experiences.

CW: Yes.

SH: And so that's why we're doing it. And that's why I wrote my piece, because I feel like as often as I'm willing to speak up about the ways that the temple has been hard for me I find that it creates space for other women to come back to me with their own difficult experiences, right?

And because it is the ultimate big deal, the temple is this place where a lot of women really don't feel that they have space in their real real life relationships with people to talk about it. They'll talk to me online about it, right? And to you online about it because we're Internet strangers but talking to their spouse or their mother or you know, their best friend or saying it in Relief Society They just don't feel space for that as I have not felt space for that.. 

CW: Right. Same.