I've been reading some of Plato's works recently, specifically his allegory of the cave. For those who don't already know what it is about, this is the description from wikipedia, or you can read the original text at the link above.

Allegory of the cave 

Imagine prisoners, who have been chained since birth deep inside a cave: not only are their limbs immobilized by the chains; their heads are chained as well, so that their gaze is fixed on a wall.

Behind the prisoners is an enormous fire, and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway, along which statues of various animals, plants, and other things are carried by people. The statues cast shadows on the wall, and the prisoners watch these shadows. When one of the statue-carriers speaks, an echo against the wall causes the prisoners to believe that the words come from the shadows.

The prisoners engage in what appears to us to be a game: naming the shapes as they come by. This, however, is the only reality that they know, even though they are seeing merely shadows of images. They are thus conditioned to judge the quality of one another by their skill in quickly naming the shapes and dislike those who begin to play poorly.

Suppose a prisoner is released and compelled to stand up and turn around. At that moment his eyes will be blinded by the firelight, and the shapes passing will appear less real than their shadows.

Similarly, if he is dragged up out of the cave into the sunlight, his eyes will be so blinded that he will not be able to see anything. At first, he will be able to see darker shapes such as shadows and, only later, brighter and brighter objects.

The last object he would be able to see is the sun, which, in time, he would learn to see as that object which provides the seasons and the courses of the year, presides over all things in the visible region, and is in some way the cause of all these things that he has seen.

Once enlightened, so to speak, the freed prisoner would not want to return to the cave to free "his fellow bondsmen," but would be compelled to do so. Another problem lies in the other prisoners not wanting to be freed: descending back into the cave would require that the freed prisoner's eyes adjust again, and for a time, he would be one of the ones identifying shapes on the wall. His eyes would be swamped by the darkness, and would take time to become acclimated. Therefore, he would not be able to identify shapes on the wall as well as the other prisoners, making it seem as if his being taken to the surface completely ruined his eyesight. (The Republic bk. VII, 516b-c; trans. Paul Shorey).

He then goes on to explain how this enlightened individual would be thought of as crazy, as he has such a different viewpoint now he has seen the bigger picture; but it is his responsibility to stay there in the darkness and lead the people in the cave to the truth, explaining how the philosopher should take this role in his Republic.

I think the freed man represents so many people, or at least many people believe they are the freed man. From religious people sharing their eternal truths, to politicians building societies from their enlightened ideals; academics publishing their discoveries to parents raising their children; philosophers (as in Plato's case) building ideas to editors writing papers. All these people have other motives as well, some of them probably more significant, but all of them share at least a spark of Plato's idea.

Everyone can gain some sort of enlightenment, maybe not to be a leader, maybe not to find the truth, but to have something to share no-one else has, an individual's unique perspective.

"Better to be the poor servant of a poor master, and to endure anything, rather than think as they do and live after their manner"