Dimitri Spivak

Dimitri Spivak is graduate of the State University of St.Petersburg. He has been conducting experimental research of altered states of consciousness and extensively publishing its results in academic press since 1980. His major monographs include: Linguistics of Altered States of Consciousness (in Russian, 1986; in English, 1992); Language under Altered States of Consciousness (in Russian, 1989); Altered States of Consciousness: Psychology and Linguistics (in Russian, 2000).He earned his doctoral degree in psycholinguistics and clinical psychology from the State University of St.Petersburg for a research entitled «Linguistics of Altered States of Consciousness» (1998). He has also published a three-volume monograph entitled «Metaphysics of St.Petersburg» (2003—2005), dedicated to transpersonal foundations of the cultural tradition of North-Western Russia. At present he is senior research fellow at N.P.Bechtereva Human Brain Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences; director of the St.Petersburg Branch of the Russian Institute for Cultural Research; and chairman of the UNESCO Chair for Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, their Specific Cultures and Interreligious Dialogue in St.Petersburg, Russia.