The fire inside the cave is light to those looking for light.

We think we are going within, when we are already inside.

Someone steps out of the cave and sees the sun,

Those inside refuse to follow because they do not believe that the world outside the cave is any more real than their cavern. Perhaps they are right?

Outside, the person must close their eyes against the glare of the sun. They rest a while in some shade, sit on a rock made smooth by a river that has long since dried. How strange, they think, in the darkness of the cave I strained to find light and now, I must shut my eyes against the brightness of light? 

Is this all the same world? 

Inside the cave I wondered what the world outside was like. Now, outside, I close my eyes to find that I contemplate the inside?

Outside, my skin burns, I am weakened, I thirst. I sit, I am blind.

Inside the cave I must stretch my eyes wide to detect a shadow, and it is cold, and I am blind.

In the dark I seek light. In the light I seek darkness. Who is the I that seeks? Is there a place of constancy between the light and the dark?

Where am I?