Miss Marple of the Agatha Christy novels is a metaphor for the awakened mind that does not rest on any form, or the wisdom mind of Zen, and other non-dual traditions. She withholds judgment until the whole or gestalt kicks in. Satori in Zen is when the gestalt kicks in and you solve the koan the master has given you. But you can’t solve the koan or the mystery with intellect, as Miss Marple demonstrates. The other deceives have intellect, but she has insight-intelligence. She withholds the judgment of intellect until Insight kicks in.

What drives her awakening of Insight is curiosity and intention. Intelligence tells her that All is One. But until satori, she doesn’t know what the One is, so she is patience, curious, and single minded, because she must give birth to the One that solves the mystery.

The Buddha was driven by this same curious intention; he could not rest until he had given birth to the Buddha who was the Awakened One that has no second. Miss Marple is a metaphor for that Buddha principle.

We are all metaphors of the Life principle, that Self realization of the One in our own personal lives. We are the One; we are the many. But we believe we are just the many. So we don’t hold judgment until Insight of the One awakens. We judge prematurely and settle for less.

Everyday mind is enlightenment, said the Zen Master. Well, my everyday mind is going to Walmart and watching British mysteries and, of course, sharing my insights on Facebook. That’s about it. Oh, I go to Costco every two weeks. I have to work with what’s given. That’s the rule. Work with what’s given, because what’s given is the only reality. What’s given is the One that has no second. If you create a second to the One, you are creating time and an alternate fake reality. We can imaging a better reality, and then live in it instead of the one that is given because we believe what’s given is crap. What’s given, however, is IT!

If enlightenment is going to be anywhere its going to be in the given, in your own backyard, in your own everyday mind. You need not go anywhere.

And this is the way Miss Marple works. She always stays with the given, with the bare facts. She refrains from creating imaginary scenarios. She is OK with not knowing. She has no pressure to know, to have certainty, to close the case and escape the tension of not knowing. All the minor deceives want to close the case to escape the tension of not know, of lacking certainty, and ambiguity. They hate ambiguity.

But the master detective loves ambiguity, for, as in the case of Miss Marple, she feels most alive in ambiguity. Her mind is sharp, awake and aware, fully attentive. Nothing escapes her awareness. Ambiguity is the water she loves to swim in. Not so with the Modern Mind. For it truth is clear and distinct ideas (thank you Descartes). Ambiguity is a quicksand one must get out of as quickly as possible…through premature judgment. You grab hold of anything.