If we could picture our plight, then, in this unusual state of our being, which spiritual masters from time immemorial have described as "sleep," we could say that each one of us has a Mary deep within us, glued to the feet of the Master.  There are incredible luminous depths within in which we know how to listen and to whom we are listening.  But the clarity of our listening is obscured because out on the periphery we also have a Martha who thinks that the whole world is riding on her back and drowns out the inner music with her constant barrage of "I need," "I want," "Pay attention to me,"

Cynthia Bourgeault, Centering Payer and Inner Awakening, pg. 15