The “King of Knowledge” (“I Am”) influences all of the senses, and seems to grant these senses “lordship” over the sense objects. It is because of this externalization that the fact that He is present prior to the senses does not attract anyone’s attention. Over many births, the mind and the intellect have acquired the habit of only looking outwards. Therefore to “turn within” has become a very difficult task. This is called “the reverse path” which the Saints follow when they turn in the opposite direction, and behold the mind completely giving up seeing all that is external. Where an ordinary man is asleep, the Saints are awake, and where an ordinary man is awake, the Saints doze off. All beings find themselves awakened to external objects, and have become extremely skillful in this type of awakening. The Saints however, have closed their eyes to external things, and it is the Self, to which other beings are asleep, that keeps the Saints wide awake.
-Siddharameshwar Maharaj
From Master Key to Self-Realization, Chapter One