Naked Self

Abbey says on page 6 that "I dream of a hard and brutal mysticism in which the naked self merges with a non-human world and yet somehow survives still intact, individual, separate. Paradox and bedrock." This idea is indeed a paradox. It seems to me that this "brutal mysticism" which he speaks of has to do with the traditional conception of the soul; the fact that one has his own "selfhood" in which he retains a distinct identity that sets him apart from other souls, aluding to God's creation of man as distinct individuals with distinct personalities. In this sense, I would agree that we are not the same, but the change in perception which I frequently vouch for is for one to consider himself not separate, but rather one with nature. How is it possible to "merge" with nature and subsequently retain the same individualistic perception of oneself, in the sense that nature and man are separate? The very purpose of realizing oneself in nature is to retain the unity of self in nature. Even though Abbey gets "up close and personal" with nature, I still don't feel that he arrived at the unity that Emerson and Thoreau purported in their writings.