How do you understand this quote?

LOL, "You can't fight the fire without access to water" :P

Okay let's say you have a box, and inside it is a light. If the lights are not on in the room, the light in the box will show. If all the lights are on the light in the box will not show. If all the lights were turned off, only then you would know if the inner light is on or off.

Thus your statement is confused.

This is a twist on "The lights are on but nobodies home".

“Either all lights are turned off or one inner light is missing.”

All lights, are all the senses or faculties a reasonably intelligent person has. But in case the speaker is wrong about the person, and he isn't intelligent with various lights/ talents, he may just have one light.

So its saying: either he's actually smart but he's behaving dumb, or he's just plain dumb.

It means that real light comes from inside. You feel negative and sad inside and you see everything that happens with a negative background. You feel good and positive inside and you see things with a positive background. You feel dark and you see everything as being dark. Is everything dark or is it just your eyes that see things dark? Is everything blurred or is it your vision that is blurred? Are all lights turned off or is it just one inner light missing?

Light means knowledge.

Strange, I would interpret it in a completely different way.

I see it as a Philosophy about learning & knowledge.

Either you are unwilling to take on any new knowledge & always accept things as black & white.

Or you always have one more candle to light- you can always learn more & so you are never completely enlightened.

well it can be taken 2 ways but ill go with a missing light bulb

Either you will be you or you will not be at all. Death or Life...

is how I understand this quote.

Keep the inner light ignited!

I think it means that all channels of Learning are closed to you.............or perhaps the fault is.........your own inner desire to learn is the light that's broken.

I believe Learning is Always out there to be grabbed.............but sometimes the problem is......people fail to reach .

I guess it kinda shows us why we are flawed beings , we lack that inner light for our circuit to be complete.

It seems to communicate that

a) `The lights are on, but nobody`s home.` (so to speak),

or/ and,

b) refers to someone with `a blind spot` in some area ~

mental, instinctual, emotional, or cognitive..