Source Light in the Real World

I was sitting at my table doing homework and I began to think about what Lonnie had said in class - because of the sun, we're happier when we have our light directing where we are looking at as opposed to the dispersed light of a fluorescent light. I decided to see what this did since I was already pretty miserable doing homework and could use a little more happiness =P. I turned on my table lamp and turned off my room light. This made the light throughout the room a lot softer and friendlier to my eye but when sitting at the table - it was far too bright on its own. It was harsh to my eyes. I then turned the room light back on and noticed that along with the room lamp - this lighting was fantastic to study in. I had the focus on the table from the table lamp but my eyes didn't feel attacked by the strong bulb. I guess this is similar to stage lighting - although we like to see exactly where the source of the light is - we can't use only one light. We have to add a little back light to surround the model, or front light to give more to their face. Although we want the source light to direct us where to go, it will still need help from other lights to give us the complete image.