Scott Cluthe has a deep conversation with Philip Shepherd, author of the book, New Self, New World: Recovering Our Senses in the 21st Century. THis is a Best of P I repeat.

 Philip Shepherd’s life can best be described as “outside of the box.” At 18, he left his native Canada to cycle alone from Europe to India, intent on immersing himself in exotic cultures. Shepherd’s exploits took him to some unexpected places: from star-filled nights in the Great Syrian Desert to Japan, where he studied classical Noh Theater.

Along the way he experienced countless ways of living unlike anything he had known in Canada. As he absorbed the lessons he learned from those different cultures, Shepherd began applying those principles to aspects of Western culture that are generally accepted as ‘normal.’ The insights he gained left him more connected with his life, more open to the present, and more clearly grounded in his purpose than ever before.

Shepherd shares them in his book, New Self, New World where he reveals how our culture subtly instructs us to rely on our head as the sole center of intelligence, and how this isolates us from the world around us. “My hope is that the book will spark questions and conversations so readers can shed the habits of thinking and seeing that trap them in anxiety. Then they can discover the deeper truth that opens them to the world and its guidance,” Shepherd says.