I think you have the intended sense of the author: (~)unmediated reality forces the thoughtful observer into reflection.
~: there ain't no such thing -- everything we experience is mediated by [our particular] sensory mechanisms -- but arguably there is a baseline directly experiencedhuman reality that being in nature reactives (for some).
~: there ain't no such thing -- everything we experience is mediated by [our particular] sensory mechanisms -- but arguably there is a baseline directly experienced human reality that being in nature reactives (for some).