About

International web portal States of Consciousness accessible at altstates.net is a platform for informing about and supporting academic studies of altered states of consciousness (ASC), a transdisciplinary field of scientific knowledge that plays an important role in psychology, psychophysiology, psychotherapy, psychiatry, sociology, cultural studies, religious studies, advanced management theories, and other disciplines.

I am pleased to endorse the States of Consciousness (http://altstates.net) International Academic Web Portal. After decades of neglect, the topic of human consciousness is the focus of considerable research and speculation, especially on the part of psychologists, neuroscientists, psychiatrists, anthropologists, and philosophers. This Web Portal spans the world, and is a vital source of reliable, accurate information about a topic that will increase our understanding of humans and other sentient beings.

— Stanley Krippner, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Saybrook University, San Francisco (California, USA)

— Dimitry Spivak, PhD, Leading Researcher, Human Brain Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg (Russia)

The concept of states of consciousness, both ordinary and altered, has been emerging as a useful integrative paradigm for psychological, philosophical and neuroscientfic approaches to the study of consciousness. This website makes an important contribution to the international spread of that integrative paradigm.

— Ralph Metzner, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

Any serious look at human history will show how frequent and important altered states of consciousness (ASCs) are. Sometimes some can be pathological, but some are sources of great insight and inspiration, and often ASC experiences were the keys that started spiritual disciplines which became our great religions. Ordinary, apparently rational, consciousness is wonderful for many tasks, but too often it rejects the very existence of ASCs, much less understanding that they are real, they can be valuable if used properly, and they can be trained and cultivated.

Ordinary consciousness tends to overvalue the physical, the material, at the expense of the spiritual. As any thinking person knows, overpopulation, greed, and ignorance are seriously threatening material progress. People can intellectually appreciate this and wish to change, but often it is the deep spiritual insights possible from ASCs that are what is needed to create real change in people. We can all agree intellectually that we should be considerate of and kind to each other—but when there isn’t enough to go around and our animal instincts demand we take care of ourselves at the expense of others, it’s hard to resist them from intellectual conviction alone. If a person has had the kind of ASC experience, on the other hand, where they KNOW at the deepest possible level of their being that we are all one in a real way, it’s no longer that you should be nice to others, it’s the obviously sensible thing to do!

Thus I am very pleased at the formation of this website, dedicated to increasing our understanding of ASCs, and wish the website and its creators and contributors the greatest success!

— Charles T. Tart, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, California, U.S.A.

The Purpose of the Project

The States of Consciousness platform is a non-governmental, non-for-profit project created within the program of supporting fundamental studies of ASC. Our vision is that it is necessary to transform social views on the significance of consciousness and dynamics of its states and the major role they play in all spheres of human activities.

The project is aimed at publishing information on contemporary academic trends in the sphere of the science of consciousness, providing a platform for discussing recent scientific data and their possible applications as well as popularizing knowledge about ASC both among specialists who work in the fields where they can directly benefit from the knowledge of recent advancements in the science of consciousness (e.g., psychology, psychotherapy, psychiatry, business, and so on) and among non-specialists who are interested in issues that come from the fact that ASC are inherent to everyday life (e.g., in personal growth and spiritual development).

The History of the Project

Work on creating this web portal has begun in 2006. It was initiated by E. Pustoshkin and A. Khlopushin under academic guidance of D. L. Spivak, Dimitry Spivak, PhD (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). The web portal is supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR grant 09-06-00012A).

In Summer 2009 within a pilot project aimed at aprobation of the website's concept a pilot version of the web portal was launched. For the first time an open access was granted to articles and monographs that introduce readers into ASC research conucted on the basis of the Human Brain Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg, Russia).

In Summer 2010 after receiving positive feedback from Russian and Western specialists, graduate and undergraduate students the project became international, was moved to a professional server, and now can be accessed from the following URL: http://altstates.net.

In June 2010 the team of developers presented the web portal at the International Transpersonal Conference (Moscow, Russia).

In 2011 an abstract of the concept of the web portal as a collaborative scientific online project was included into the program of the prestigious international conference Towards a Science of Consciousness which was held in Stockholm (Sweden) in May.

Target Audience

The web portal's target audience includes scholars of ASC, undergraduate and graduate students as well as persons who are interested in the range of problems that surround ASC. These individuals use the web portal as an invualuable source of information, a platform for establishing academic contacts, and a reference base for conducting semester and graduate projects on the topic.

Plans for Further Development

As of Summer 2010 it is planned to establish the environment for conducting ASC research in the form of surveying the Internet users on this web portal as well as on the partnering websites. In the future we plan to organize teleconferences and dialogues with the leading scholars of ASC, scientists, physicians, psychotherapists, important religious figures, priests, Buddhist teachers, Sufis, shamans, artists, and others.

Partners

The States of Consciousness web portal is open for collaboration both with individuals and organizations (research institutions, mass media, etc.) who are interested in scientific studies of ASC conducted according to the highest academic standards.

Currently, the web portal has established contacts with a number of scientists who work in the field of ASC studies (C. T. Tart, S. Krippner, A. M. Ludwig, D. Lukoff, F. Echenhoffer and others). Numerous steps have been taking towards establishing collaboration and long-term partnerships with various institutions and organizations both in Russia and the West. For additional information see the Friends and Partners section.

Invitation to Collaboration

Translators

The States of Consciousenss web portal, a non-for-profit project, invites volunteers to collaborate in terms of translating materials on altered states of consciousness to Russian, English and possibly to other languages (such as, e.g., Finnish, German, Chinese, and other languages).

We are aspiring to make recent advancements in the field of the science of consciousness and its altered states accessible to the widest audience possible. Our goal is to equally present all our materials at least in Russian and English.

Authors

The States of Consciousness web portal also invites authors of publications in the field of academic studies of ASC. See further information in the Publication Requirements section.

Team of Developers

Academic consultant of the project is Dimitry Spivak (the Human Brain Institute of RAS, St. Petersburg, Russia).

The web portal is supported by the RFBR grant 09-06-00012A.

Acknowledgments

The team of developers expresses gratitude to the employees of aijko GmbH and personally to Erik Frister for their help and support in creating the website.