Claim OwnershipKnow What You See with Brian Lowery
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The “Know What You See” podcast delves into the ways our fundamental need to connect with others profoundly shapes our experience of life. On each episode, through conversations with experts and people just trying to make sense of it all, Brian Lowery takes a journey of exploration—answering and raising questions to deepen our understanding of and appreciation for the often surprising, sometimes perplexing, and now and then transcendent lives we create together.
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Sometimes healing doesn't mean trying to erase the past, but honoring it — cracks and all. In this episode, artist Naoko Fukumaru shares her deeply personal story of transformation through kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery or ceramics with lacquer and gold or silver powder to highlight the fractures and seams. She and host Brian Lowery explore what it means to mend — not just objects, but spirit — and why the most broken parts of us may be the most beautiful.For more on Naoko Fukumaru visit naokofukumaru.com, and for more on Brian Lowery and the show, check out knowwhatyousee.com.
What do medieval troubadours and modern rappers have in common? More than you might think. In this episode, Stanford professor of French and Italian, Marisa Galvez joins Brian Lowery to explore how poetry—whether in 12th-century love songs or hip-hop lyrics—has long been a way to express love, power, or identity. Together they discuss how lyrical traditions from the past continue to shape music and culture today. For more on Brian and his guests, go to knowwhatyousee.com.
Host Brian Lowery talks with journalist Jennifer Sullivan about the parallels between beauty and birding. As someone who has spent years writing about appearance and self-perception, Jenn discovered that watching birds offered a different kind of reflection—one that quiets the mind and expands our sense of place in the world. She and Brian discuss how stepping into nature can shift the way we see ourselves, and what happens when we stop looking in the mirror and start looking up.For more on the show, go to knowwhatyousee.com.
National Geographic photographer and conservationist Jaime Rojo has spent decades capturing the beauty and fragility of the monarch butterfly. Their epic migration is one of nature’s most breathtaking spectacles, but their survival is under threat. In this episode, Jaime shares how his passion for photography and conservation led him to document the monarchs’ journey. He and host Brian Lowery discuss the deeper story behind his award-winning images, one about resilience, connection, and the urgent need to protect our natural world.See Jaime's story on the monarch butterflies at his website: rojovisuals.com, and follow Brian Lowery at knowwhatyousee.com.
In this episode, comedian and tea enthusiast Jesse Appell of Jesse's Teahouse takes us on a journey from studying Chinese comedy to building an online tea business. He shares how navigating different cultures shaped his perspective on laughter, authenticity, and community. From mastering traditional Chinese cross-talk comedy to reinventing himself after a life-changing move, Jesse and host Brian Lowery discuss adaptation and the unexpected paths that bring meaning to our lives.For more on Jesse, visit jessesteahouse.com and for more on Brian and the podcast go to brianloweryphd.com.
In this episode of Know What You See, Brian Lowery talks with DJ Colleen "Cosmo" Murphy, an acclaimed broadcaster, DJ, and founder of Classic Album Sundays. Colleen shares her journey from a high school radio station to becoming a global curator of transformative musical experiences. Whether it's finding community through the airwaves, or the shared euphoria of the dance floor, or the relaxed vibe of group listening events, Brian and Colleen reflect on the healing and uniting power of music.For more about DJ Cosmo visit colleencosmomurphy.com, and for more on Brian check out his website at brianloweryphd.com.
Here’s another podcast we think you’ll like. It's called "Wisdom and Practice" and it’s hosted by one of Brian Lowry's guests this season, Simran Jeet Singh. Wisdom & Practice uncovers what insights we can gain from our ancient and modern traditions. Simran explores the different means of practice his guests have taken to discover new awareness of themselves, and how we can all cultivate more meaning, purpose and growth in our everyday lives.This episode of Wisdom and Practice features Katherine May, author of "Enchantment" and host of "How We Live Now". She and Simran discuss the loss of our sense of play, the power of attention, and how we can reconnect with a sense of wonder. You can find out more about "Wisdom and Practice" at Simran’s website - simranjeetsingh.org - and subscribe to the show on all your favorite podcast platforms. Hope you enjoy!
Wine and chocolate may seem like simple pleasures, but for people like master sommelier Chris Gaither and Dandelion Chocolates co-founder Todd Masonis, they’re so much more. Chris sees wine as a way to bring people together to share stories and get in touch with the land and culture. Todd’s approach to chocolate focuses on traditional origins and fostering relationships with small farms. In Brian's conversations with both, we dive into how these everyday indulgences can connect us to people, places, history, and even ourselves.
In this episode of Know What You See, Brian Lowery talks with with Simran Jeet Singh, professor, author, and host of the podcast, Wisdom and Practice, to explore the intersection of faith, purpose, and daily life. Simran shares how his Sikh faith guides his journey toward self-improvement, happiness, and meaningful community connections. Together, he and Brian discuss the role of religion as a practice—not just a belief system—and its potential to transform individuals and societies.For more on the show, visit knowwhatyousee.com.
On a recent episode of Know What You See, Brian had a conversation with master storyteller, Dr. Ray Christian. Ray’s stories have appeared on The Moth, RISK!, and Snap Judgment but he’s not just a storyteller. Ray is also a historian, father, and combat veteran from the rural South, who finds himself floating between life in academia, public speaking, parenting, and tending to the goats in his backyard. To give you a better sense of his stories, I’m excited to share with you an episode of Ray’s podcast, What’s Ray Saying?, and you can find more about him at drraychristian.com. Hope you enjoy!
What do the stories we tell say about who we are? In this episode of Know What You See, host Brian Lowery sits down with Dr. Ray Christian—storyteller, educator, ten-time Moth Story Slam champion, and host of the award-winning podcast What's Ray Saying? —to explore how the narratives we share, and the ones we leave out, shape our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.Join Brian and Ray for a thought-provoking conversation about how our stories might be the key to answering life’s biggest question: what’s the point?
On Know What You See, host Brian Lowery dives into a single, sweeping question: "What's the point?" Why do people dedicate so much of themselves to pursuits like music, wine, comedy, or storytelling? Through engaging conversations with enthusiasts from diverse fields, this season explores the reasons behind our passions and what they reveal about us. Tune in for new episodes starting November 26.
In this Know What You See short, Brian probes the real reasons for having kids and why biological family is so important to us.
In this Know What You See short, Brian reflects on how the strategy of selection determines our sense of self worth .
In this Know What You See short, Brian considers why being thoughtful about travel can help us get the most out of it.Why do you travel? Leave a message with your thoughts at brianloweryphd.com/contact. Stay tuned for new episodes of Know What You See coming this fall and follow @knowwhatyouseepod on Instagram.
We’ve been looking at the forces in our lives that shape who we are and who we can be: our relationships, our social identities, our ability to choose. But all of this exists in the shadow of the knowledge that we will all die. This is so terrifying that most of us try to avoid thinking or talking about it. But what would change if we were better prepared for death and dying? How would it transform our lives right now?
Guest: Adriana Prosser, Death Doula
For more about Brian Lowery go to knowwhatyousee.com.
In the day-to-day of our lives, how often do we feel truly moved? Many of us think we have to get away from our daily reality to experience awe--the feeling that something is so wondrous and mysterious it's a little scary. It can feel like only extraordinary encounters with say art or majestic experiences of nature evoke awe, and we are left with too little of it. But maybe we can learn to cultivate awe and by doing so bring greater meaning to our lives.
Guest:
Dacher Keltner, Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley, founder and director of the Greater Good Science Center, and host of the podcast The Science of Happiness.
We like to believe that we are masters of our own fate, that we are the cause of our choices and actions. But what if that's not true? Imagine that all of our choices and actions are simply the product of history—whether that goes back one minute or 1000 years—and biological and environmental forces that we often don’t even understand. In this episode we're exploring the question of whether free will exists and whether we should even want it to.
Brian’s guest is Robert Sapolsky: Professor of Biology, Neurology, Neurological Sciences, and Neurosurgery at Stanford University and author of Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will.
Race and gender are thought by many to be immutable features of our biology. In some places and spaces, we see significant challenges to this way of thinking about gender, but the biological view of race has proved more durable. How do we understand racial identity from individual and community perspectives? What’s changing about how we define race and how that shapes our interactions with the world around us?
Our guest:
Rebecca Tuvel: Associate Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Rhodes College.
For many of us, gender is an important part of how we understand ourselves. It affects everything, from the way we present ourselves physically, to how we make sense of others' interactions with us. But what determines our gender? The answer to this question is more complicated than we might think. The way we understand gender can reveal a lot about who we are and who we can be.
Our guests:
Schuyler Bailer: author, educator, American swimmer and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.
Rebecca Tuvel: Associate Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Rhodes College.
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