Liberation Unleashed: A Guide to Breaking Free from the Illusion of a Separate Self

Author Ilona Ciunaite's search for the truth began when she first "experienced silence of the thinking mind, a sweet sense of being, contentment, peace," and "feeling at home." Driven by a desire to reach that state of oneness once more, her path led her through spiritual writings to the process of deconstruction and non-dual self-inquiry and finally to a peaceful emptiness of not knowing, but of simply being. It's from that place that Ciunaite cocreated the popular Liberation Unleashed forum-a global Internet-based community helping people see through the illusion of a separate self-and it's Mjust that sense of unknowing peace she wishes to impart with this book.

Liberation Unleashed is a lively, fresh, and moving account of the author's own searching, liberation, and
transformation, woven together with the stories of fellow seekers and a clear exposition of the simple, focused tools you can use to go through the "gateless gate." With its conversational tone, provocative questions, and the presentation of the seven steps-"Clearing the path-meeting the fear," "Strip away ALL expectations," "Get in touch with the real," "'I' is a thought," "There is no separate self," "How does it feel to see this?" and "Falling"-this book serves as an introductory how-to guide, demonstrating how to use the process of self-inquiry to get free from the falseness of the separate self and realize a blissful oneness.

So many of us go through life feeling isolated, searching for ourselves, or seeking a more authentic reality through religion, spirituality, or other, more unconventional means of expanding consciousness. Now, with this book and its guiding principles, you'll learn how to look deeply into the nature of self and existence; combat the anxieties, fears, mental blocks, and reservations that can arise in self-inquiry; and see the simple beauty of the everyday moment.

Ilona Ciunaite was born in Lithuania and received a degree in psychology. Her search for truth started in 2002, when, through the use of psychedelic mushrooms, she "experienced silence of the thinking mind, a sweet sense of being, contentment, peace," and "feeling at home." She was drawn to the writings of Osho and Richard Bach, and in 2010 finally discovered Jed McKenna's books, which were a shock to her belief system and catapulted her "out of hypnosis" and toward the realization that she'd had no idea she had no idea. It wasn't until the initial deconstruction was done, after months of painful self-inquiry, that Ciunaite felt at peace: there was an emptiness, a not knowing, a not believing anything about anything. Inspired by the forum called Ruthless Truth created by Ciaran Healy, she started writing a blog, Marked, Eternal, where she shared thoughts about this newfound freedom and invited readers to look for themselves in their own
experience. Later, Ciunaite, her dearest friend Elena Nezhinsky, and a group of people from the Ruthless Truth forum developed a process called Direct Pointing, which consists of a dialogue between a guide and a seeker. In September 2011, with the help of Healy, Ciunaite cocreated the Liberation Unleashed forum, a global movement of people helping others to see through the illusion of self. Ciunaite has had hundreds of conversations with people from all around the globe and has started to hold live meetings and group sessions. All of her work can be found on her blog (http://markedeternal.blogspot.com) and on The Gate forum (http://liberationunleashed.com), which includes recordings of her meetings. She lives in England with her husband Mantas, a tattoo artist from whom she learned the art of tattooing. Together, they run a custom tattoo studio in West Sussex (http://www.mantas-tattoo.com).