Week 2: Feeling directly, seeing indirectly

At lunch, feeling the warm sun on the back of my neck, I reflected on experiencing light without seeing it's source. Looking directly into the source would be actually harmful for me. We often talk about light as something seen, but there's more to it. How does an actor find their light onstage? Often by "feeling" it. The heat on the skin, the wincing effect on the eyes.

After I took a a few selfies of myself with the sun I considered how impossible it is to look at the source of the light of the sun at all. The sources,  nuclear reactions occurring deep inside the sun, are completely hidden. What I'm seeing in this picture is the effects of those reactions on the outer layers of the sun. These are then filtered by: The atmosphere; camera lens; the processing and display capabilities of the devices used; the atmosphere again; my eyes. Even in a conventional light bulb, looking directly at the filament would be difficult, if not painful.

Is light more hidden then seen?