A reconceptualization of the relationship between affect and bodily feelings is proposed; this theory, unlike current approaches, is consistent with an epistemology based on direct realism. J. J. Gibson's concept of the ambient stimulus array is extended, in that the structured energy supporting perception is construed as being available for detection by all receptors. A non-mediated approach to the pickup of information that specifies affect in the stimulus array is advanced, and the implications of this process for understanding self reports of affect and bodily feelings is explored. It is predicated that a direct realist approach to epistemic processes, such as those supporting the perception of affect and the accompanying bodily feelings, will likely lead to a more parsimonious explanation of these phenomena.