Although this is not a direct answer to your conundrum, all I can add is that ever since I had eye surgery and they replaced my eyes natural lens with built in plastic ones, I am physically hypersensitive light. The ophthalmologist calls it photo-phobic, but it's a physical not psychological phenom.

You seem to nearly have your own defensively developed night-vision goggles. Before my surgery I practically needed a spot light on something to discern it- so we were on opposite ends of the light-required spectrum.

Currently you are missing the longer day light hours that spare you from artificial light triggers, and I have concluded there are no super polarized, mega-visor shaped sports sunglasses dense enough to allow me luxuriate in the sunlight of a beautiful blue day, bobbing on the ocean in a boat. Natural sun light feels like the 3rd degree to me. But it's a purely physical overload thing.

I understand from your past posts why artificial light triggers you, and not sun light. It sounds as if your trigger may be getting the best of you right now, no? I hope not.

One of my passions is gossamer, the fibers which many insects use to spin webs, cocoons and transport vehicles. As I exercised my gossamer passion this past summer with my sister, I came to believe I see lights most folks do not. My sister was continually dumbfounded by my ability to find and photograph teensy critters by following the soft glimmers of their gossamer threads.

Yea, I have the PTSD link of electric light loving abusers, but I believe more and more part is even more primal than that. It breaks my heart that my heart to lose Nature's most mystical lights to the vulgar glare of electric enlightenment.

Did you know that 70% of the world's population can no longer see the Milky Way?

Oh well... The good news is there will be 28 seconds less man-light hours tonight.

Thanks for excellent commentary. I have been aching with embarrassment for having made this post.

I too miss the vast starry nights that I took for granted in my childhood. Living in coastal SoCal, stars are barely discernible, more often the night sky was a faint collective red glow- all the break and traffic lights?

Also as a painter and sometimes photographer, I envy your visual acuity re: subtle light differentiations.

This topic is cool, flush the embarrassment.

Daylight and darkness in winter do have their subtle effect on me in these months. As far as indoor light, I don't have it measured as finely as you do, arfie, but in general I notice that flourescent light is not my friend the way other light can be. It seems in that way I'm like 51%--less is more when it come to light for me.

Hhhmm . . . .I either need fully lit up or dimly lit ambience - the in between feels stark, glaring and barren. The darkness of my house in the northern states in wintertime don't feel so good to me. Every single night I build a fire in the fire place - for the effect it has on the home as we tend to migrate on the north side of the house that is cold, thus the fireplace bites into the chill. But, the glow of the fire is required. When I need light, I need full light - 100 watt bulbs, all on - I need to see what I'm doing - particularly if I'm cleaning - I need to see.

And, there's a condition and I can't remember if it is adrenal exhaustion, or hypothyroidism, but something causes sensitivity to sunlight - as it is, I can be outside without requiring sunglasses - which is a first in years and years and years.

Arfie, the gossamer . . .I don't even know quite what that word means but I wonder if you would enjoy the picture my co-worker captured with his microscope and camera, winning 2nd place in an international contest - a picture of baby spiders in their cocoon/web/nest thing?

dbpalm, I don't have a fireplace now, but the combined warmth & light of one when I did is a very good memory. That flourescent light's effect is harsh, stark, cold even though it's brighter. I had treatment for hypothyroidism years ago, by the way.

Interesting that should come up. arfie, you mentioned light and PTSD abusers. One way the dictatorship used light in torture in my country in the 1970s &1980s was to put their target subject in a harshly lit room 24/7. Their concentration camps were floodlit at night, too; you could see them from nearly over the horizon. Interesting.

I started a bunch of thoughts just now about how as an artist I have to invent light entirely when I create an image. I've talked to photographers about this. How they must use and manipulate light in the environment to make art. But painters invent light through the use of color combinations and so we control every aspect of it. It's a wonderful thing to create and control images. Now a calm has come over me. There is something tranquil about the feelings of light and our human experience of it.

Light/dark metaphors are part of every culture on Earth and have hammered their way into our very psyche.

Real light is not so simple. A total absence of light is, but real light is highly complex and multi-textured, as are the concepts the metaphors simplify to High School dribble. What a delight to find such depth of appreciation here.

No vitamin D shortage in this female dog. I love all of Nature's light, including the sun. My favorite time of every day is watching the sun wash the shadowy stains of human lights from the world.

Thanks to all who have made me feel less alone.

Yes arfie, de-light-ful

Ah, letitbe... I think you even had some clues to what buttons you were pushing with that delightful little pun...

The etymology traces it to French - with no "gh." ugh! I have the unfortunate baggage of having heard French accents spouting xenophobia jokes in 4 languages. I need no more than see an "fr." in the dictionary to get me in the mood for linguistic heresy. Suffice it to say that the current English word was well established before English lost it's familiar tenses (thee, thou, etc.)

Fast forward to 21st century American English and we may have a bumper sticker:

"Turn the Stars On
De-Light the Night"

I'm still reading that poetry anthology of Vietnam war survivors, a PTSD population if there ever was one. The title of the book. "Carrying the Darkness."