The Roman Catholic religion only became prominent through Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire in the ninth century. Roman Catholic Christianity with its popes was a sidelight to Greek Orthodox Christianity that only came to dominate over the Greek tradition  after the Crusades that sacked the  Greek capital of Byzantium in the thirteenth century. In Jerusalem I could see a decline in spirituality from the Greek Orthodox to the Roman Catholic Churches and Protestant Churches. The Greek Orthodox churches had much mysticism in them. The Roman Catholic had some mysticism but a sense of regimentation. The recently built Protestant  Churches had no spirituality at all and were little better than tombs for the soul!

Scholars are now discovering a similar historical development in the Koran. Versions of the Koran from Yemen have been found dating from the eighth century that differ from the Koran as we know it today. Scholars are now proposing that the Koran was a document that developed over time to fulfill not only religious needs but also the social needs of a new and rapidly growing empire. The new Arab rulers needed a religious teaching to sanctify their position and maintain their hold over the older and more complex cultures that they had just come to rule. Their religion was rigid and intolerant in order to sustain their supremacy over older civilizations that could easily assimilate their much simpler culture.

No doubt many mystical traditions existed in the ancient Near East before the two orthodox religions of the book eliminated them. This included Greek, Celtic, Egyptian, Persian and Babylonian traditions with probable links to India and to Vedanta. Probably there were many great mystics in these traditions that we have forgotten who were as great as any produced by Christianity and Islam.

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