Using person experience with light, I know there are times when I have to turn down the brightness of my laptop because it hurts to look at it, and their are times when I wish it could be made brighter because even at max it is hard to see. The former times happen at night when I have other lights off (and I hear the doctor telling me I shouldn't use my laptop like that) and the latter times happen in the day when the sunlight is very bright.

So to hear that someone who was in the dark is blinded by the light is not surprising.

But, it does sound like there was a second factor, which is that he also saw a greater ugliness in people that he hadn't seen before. It sounds like he had a sense of naivety that hadn't been seen before.

So really, this is less like walking out of a dark room into bright sunlight and more like walking out of a dark room into sunlight illuminating a tragic accident.