Every so often, I come across a dissertation that isn't merely trying to answer a question. It's trying to redraw the map upon which the question itself is asked. Today's guest, Dr. Troy Hassan Shepherd, has written one of those dissertations.

His work asks whether modern science has become so successful at measuring the world that it has forgotten how to experience it. More specifically, he explores whether Western scientific thought and what he calls Earth-ways of knowing might not be adversaries after all, but complementary expressions of humanity's search for truth.

It's an ambitious undertaking. Along the way, we'll discuss Du Bois' notion of double-consciousness, the role of dreams and divination as forms of knowledge, Indigenous epistemologies, mathematics as metaphor, and whether science can broaden its conception of evidence without sacrificing intellectual rigor.

This is not an episode about replacing science with spirituality, nor spirituality with science. It is about asking whether the boundary separating the two is as fixed as we've imagined.

The Observable Unknown is a podcast exploring consciousness at the intersection of neuroscience, culture, and lived experience. It is written and hosted by Dr. Juan Carlos Rey of drjuancarlosrey.com and crowscupboard.com, an interdisciplinary scholar whose work bridges neuroscience, philosophy, and the interior dimensions of human experience.