The First and Last Belief: a theory of Liberation in the age of neuroscience

This book endeavours to offer a practical, 21st century perspective of a phenomenon which has intrigued spiritual seekers throughout the ages. Whilst it doesn’t answer any questions about the ultimate nature of Life or Consciousness, it does suggest that there might be a modern, neuroscientific way to frame the sudden disappearance of the illusion of separation ( often referred to as ‘Liberation’) that accompanies the recognition of Consciousness as the only ‘thing’ that can be truly known.

All the quotes below (including those on the book cover) are from the book’s original publisher Julian Noyce who (along with his wife Catherine) kindly published the book several months before his unexpected retirement in early 2026. Julian’s retirement gave rise to self-publishing under the imprint name Non-Duality Now, and the subsequent creation of this website.

“This is the sort of book I hoped to produce when I first became involved with publishing. It adds something worthwhile to the conversation about awakening in the West and it’s an original and clear piece of writing.” 

Julian Noyce founder of Non Duality Press and New Sarum Press 

“The First and Last Belief offers a lucid and grounded account of what many traditions call liberation or awakening—stripped of mystique yet retaining its depth. Drawing from her own unexpected and irreversible experience, Monica Khosla explores how the deeply ingrained sense of being a separate “I” can dissolve, revealing life as immediate, unowned, and whole.

Interwoven with personal narrative is a theory that bridges ancient insight with modern neuroscience. Khosla examines how the brain constructs the felt sense of self, and how recent understandings of memory reconsolidation, brain networks, and perceptual processing might explain the sudden disappearance of that sense. Along the way, she illuminates the fears, habits, and emotional learnings that bind us to our most fundamental assumption—the First Belief—and how its dissolution changes nothing in reality, yet transforms everything in experience.

Clear, precise, and deeply human, The First and Last Belief stands apart in its ability to describe both the inner landscape of liberation and the possible neurological underpinnings that make it possible. For readers interested in awakening, consciousness or the meeting point of science and direct experience, it offers not instructions or promises, but an invitation to see what may already be here.”