Good question. Probably because of modern connotations of the word and the way it's used as an antonym to "subjectivity". Maybe a better word in stead of it would be "factuality" (as in fire burns, gravity attracts, everything dies, etc.--not good, not bad, devoid of any intrinsic value or characterization--simply just the way things are). Ironically, when you talk about that flashlight and exterior patterns, it immediately strikes me that I know of no one who would not spent their whole lifetime within their mind/perceptual world. So the flashlight, indeed, appears to illuminate only the one holding it.