American philosopher-mystic-scientist Ken Wilber has been called the first ‘world philosopher’ and ‘the Einstein of consciousness’ following his revolutionary synthesis of the ancient spiritual traditions of the East with the modern developmental
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Presenter
Steve Banks has been on a deep and broad journey of healing and self-exploration since he first experienced the wonderful benefits of psychoanalytic therapy in his late 20’s. He is now in his late 50’s. His inner journey has encompassed: menswork, including the life changing Men’s Rites of Passage workshop and workshops with Wild Dance Events, including with Robert Bly, James Hillman, Michael Mead, Malidoma and Sobunfu Somé; being a member of the team writing for and producing the radical men’s magazine, ‘Achilles Heel’ (along with Mick Cooper and John Rowan); training as a Psychosynthesis counsellor (graduating in 2000); training in Imagework with Dina Glouberman; Buddhist meditation and retreats since 1990; an Integral Christianity ‘We-Space’ group.
The Psychosynthesis training led Steve in the late 1990’s to Ken Wilber’s Integral model, which has been a consuming passion ever since, and which inspired Steve to compose ‘Blue Pearl: A One World Oratorio’, a ground-breaking sacred choral work, which had its world premiere in May 2022 (you can watch the beautiful film of the concert at https://youtu.be/WP-A3v36CEw. Ken Wilber described Blue Pearl as “A superb, exhilarating, magical piece of music.”
Steve has presented at every Integral European Conference (the foremost global gathering of Integral thinkers and practitioners) since 2018, both about the Blue Pearl oratorio, and also his workshop ‘Demystifying Mysticism’, on the theory and practice of Integral spirituality. Steve hosts the podcast ‘Creative Furnace: Conversations with Integral Artists’ on the Integral Life platform (www.integrallife.com).
As a violinist, drummer and singer, Steve has performed classical, folk, and world music with ensembles as diverse as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Contemporary Chamber Orchestra and Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band.
