I Found The Answer On THE WHY OF FLASHAHOLISM !!!!!

While watching a vampire movie, the answer dawned on me (oops… puns!):

The real nature of flashaholism is not just about seeing in dark corners, at night in the woods or during power outages. It really is about "living on" normally despite the natural cycle of day and night or light and shadow. Somewhat like vampires, who can't come out during the day without some magic, a good flashlight can now let us live peacefully at night and face the otherwise hidden dangers of darkness as if daylight had extended its hours. The real quest of the flashaholic is the same one that once drove cavemen to master fire: being able to keep doing what we normally do and watch out for danger despite the arrival of night and despite the darkness of closed quarters by finding a portable source of light to follow us anywhere anytime. It is a primordial quest for survival, imprinted in our genes, to live on unimpeded and to see predators from far away in any situation beyond the limiting time of the sun-provided light. Sight being our most important sense, light is therefore our most important asset to "live on" as usual without risk from unseen dangers in any given situation while not being limited by time or shadow. Modern flashlights can finally fill that need, but nothing yet beats Mr. Sun and I suspect the quest will go on until we find a portable source of light that makes all shadows disappear on 360 X360 degrees as far as we can see at the flick of a switch.


My flashaholic prayer:

I am grateful that I can live inside and outside day or night. Thanks to my source of light, I know I can go anywhere anytime, no matter how far and for how long. I am now free from the covered light refuge I once needed so badly. I am grateful that I can live on normally anywhere and anytime thanks to my preciouses. Oh! source of light, chase away the shadows that darken my way, and may your batteries last longer than night or a trek in a darkened venue on a single charge!

Amen

Thats a fantastic way of looking at it.

I'm just curious to see what strange unknown thing lurks in that dark shadow over there...now what pocket did I put that light in?

You want to work in something about gadget freakiness in there somewhere. Mine started in a former life when I broke my paeleolithic stone knife blade and saw a neolithic one in a flint shop over near the Wurm glacier.

People naturally feel insecure when they can't see or can't see well. Light provide comfort and security but that is not the main reason. Flashlight also is science meets nature, technology driven. People just like improvement of technology in hands.
but that is also not the main reason. The main reason for me is CHARACTER. They are just like us. Fat, lean, tall, short, old, new, lights coming out from the top, lights on the side, deep reflector, shallow reflector...etc. The seems to be use for the same function but they are just like us, each one of them, feel different. Holding them in hand, we feel close to them. Not only that, they are man made item that pushes boundary. When we turn it on, we are proud what we have accomplished against nature's unbeatable darkness. We wish someday we can create something as powerful and as beautiful as sun.

Do I sound.....Crazy!?

Mr Bigglow said:

You want to work in something about gadget freakiness in there somewhere. Mine started in a former life when I broke my paeleolithic stone knife blade and saw a neolithic one in a flint shop over near the Wurm glacier.

Click to expand...

I would say that any survival gear might come from the same natural instinct, but I had a flash specifically about flashlights. You might have started earlier than me, I think I only started when my bronze knife started cracking and I saw an iron sword at a village market for only 3 chickens. Good ol' times...

wuyeah said:

People naturally feel insecure when they can't see or can't see well. Light provide comfort and security but that is not the main reason. Flashlight also is science meets nature, technology driven. People just like improvement of technology in hands.
but that is also not the main reason. The main reason for me is CHARACTER. They are just like us. Fat, lean, tall, short, old, new, lights coming out from the top, lights on the side, deep reflector, shallow reflector...etc. The seems to be use for the same function but they are just like us, each one of them, feel different. Holding them in hand, we feel close to them. Not only that, they are man made item that pushes boundary. When we turn it on, we are proud what we have accomplished against nature's unbeatable darkness. We wish someday we can create something as powerful and as beautiful as sun.

Do I sound.....Crazy!?

Click to expand...

Yes. At least for unenlightened people, and a little less to me.

I have to say that character is only one of the aspects that attract us to flashlights. It probably is one of the major aspects as to why some people absolutely want one flashlight over another one, or even why they want one more, but would you still buy it if it didn't light up?????

I have to admit, Cataract's essay about lights allowing us to "live on" more or less normally after nightfall struck a powerful chord. Also, wuyeah's comment about CHARACTER succinctly captured the essence of why each of us prefers lights with different characteristics (perhaps reflecting our personal values, to one degree or another). Personally, I LIKE the feel of a good tool in the hand (or on my head, in the case of a headlamp). It's satisfying in a visceral way. I get the same feeling from a hand-forged sheath knife that was handed down to me from the late 1880's: great great grandfather, to great grandfather, to grandfather, to father, to son. The knife has received new handle scales at least six times that we know of since 1900, each time using the times of antlers that were harvested by the knife's steward. (I decline to call myself the "owner"...I'm just taking care of it for the next generation.) It's still wicked sharp, and still strong. Using it connects me to and honors my lineage.

The same feeling applies to my personal favorite lights. Those are MINE. I have others that I'm willing to lend, or gift, or trade, or sell. Not so my favorites: they stay with me. And when advances in technology render my favorites less capable vis-a-vis more advanced torches, I'll retire them to a place of honor. But I'm still going to keep them.

Live on, indeed. Nicely phrased.

This deep thinking, heady thread really belongs in the Cafe, so moving it there.

Bill

I am Nosferatu. My powers are weak in the daytime. I sleep. No energy. Can't wake up. I get tired when it gets light out.

I come alive at night... been a nocturnal creature since I can remember. Therefore I've loved things that light up ever since I was a toddler. I thought I was in heaven when I got one of those wackerific chrome sealed beam lanterns with the red flasher.

No, I wouldn't buy it if it didn't light up! <g> And I get great satisfaction from modding. ("Hey, I built that, and it kicks ***!")

Rich

your problem discussed here, save us all

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?165885-Am-I-Cursed

I like your player...

Sounds good to me. I have to have some excuse.

Well thought out Cataract, and well said! Never thought of it that way, but makes complete sense to me!

+

It likely has alot to do with the whole fire thing,
if we mastered it.,...we didn't die.

Who can't keep their eyes off a bonfire, it's almost impossible

Safe to say fire & light are ingrained in our genes*





*some more than others//:devil:

I think it all started with fire and that got impinted in the gene pool real good. It would also explain why some people say they like flashy colorful things and can sit for hours playing or even watching someone else playing the video lottery. Thank god I'm hooked to flashlights instead!