Your Inner Zoo: A Field Guide to the Meaning of Animals & the Insights They Offer Us
By Belinda Recio
What might we learn about our own human natures from the friskiness of a young goat, the focus of a hawk, the transformation of a butterfly, or the hibernation of a bear?
How can animals—through their natural and cultural histories—offer us ideas that could help us better understand ourselves, navigate a relationship, or change an aspect of our lives? Do the animals that we admire or fear reveal something about us? What about the animals who appear in our dreams, visions, and creative inspirations? These are some of the questions addressed in Your Inner Zoo: A Field Guide to the Meaning of Animals & the Insights They Offer Us.
You can use Your Inner Zoo:
• to explore yourself through animals
• to approach animals as teachers and guides
• to explore the possible meaning of animal encounters
• to connect with animals through their natural and cultural histories
• as an animal symbolism dictionary
By exploring animal biology and behavior, as well as the cultural roles that animals play in symbolism, mythology, and traditions, Your Inner Zoo invites you to approach animals as a source of provocative ideas that can lead to self-discovery and a deeper sense of connection with the more-than-human world.
Your Inner Zoo covers 54 different animals and is beautifully illustrated throughout with original color artwork and stunning photography.
In Your Inner Zoo, I present many of the natural and cultural ideas associated with animals, and invite you to explore yourself and your life through a zoological lens. In doing so, you will hopefully develop what ecologist Paul Shepherd called a “zoology of the self”—a sense of how the other animals teach us and live within us as ideas and insights, intuitions and instincts.
As you explore your own inner zoo, may the animals herein teach, guide, and inspire you. In return, I hope that you will be inspired to help protect them and the places they live, as these creatures—along with all the rest of nature—hold the soul and wisdom of the earth, of which humanity is just a small part. —Belinda Recio