Normally, I launch jupyter from a new bash terminal:
~$ jupyter notebook
and then navigate down the tree to the files I want to wo
As explained in https://github.com/ipython/ipython/issues/7751, it is not possible to navigate to the parent directory for security reasons:
The kernel might not be python, nor on the same machine than the server, nor do you need a running kernel to use server API(s).
If you want, you can ask for more information in the aforementioned GitHub issue.
As edwinksl pointed out it is not possible for security reasons. See https://github.com/jupyter/notebook/issues/2032.
But if you want to keep your luis.ipynb file in its original location and still be able to access it from Jupyter Notebook browser, you can create a symlink to it in your running Jupyter Notebook directory:
ln -s ~/blah/thingy/luis.ipynb ~/blah/blah/blah/
For more details on symlinks see https://www.howtogeek.com/297721/how-to-create-and-use-symbolic-links-aka-symlinks-on-a-mac/