Vasily Vasilyevich Nalimov

This article introduces Vasily Nalimov, humanist, philosopher, and visionary, and Zhanna Drogalina Nalimov, co-worker and researcher, as individuals whose concepts regarding human consciousness are both provocative and exciting. Following his years in Soviet labor camps and labeled "an enemy of the people," Nalimov found that his ideas were better received in the West than in his own country. The author met the Nalimovs in 1991 when they visited Princeton University, and she was impressed not only by their vast knowledge and experience in the field of human consciousness research but also by the spiritual bond that exists between them. Later that year, she was honored to be invited to interview Nalimov in their Moscow home: that interview, plus Vasily's prodigious writings, showed her a man who sees far beyond his own time. Nalimov's concepts of meaning and consciousness, which will probably not be fully realized until well into the next century, encompass topics as varied as language, mathematics, and philosophy.