Transcendence beyond the
limits of human cognition, and thus reason and even religious beliefs is notoriously difficult for the human mind to
grasp; even if as I suspect the human mind has an instinctual urge to yearn to
go beyond cognitive and perceptual boundaries (i.e., beyond our ordinary
experience), that same mind also has a dogged proclivity to cloth wholly-other
religious objects (e.g., a deity) in familiar garb. Transcendent experience
itself is immune, hence focusing on the experience itself is superior to
getting caught up with the presumably certain divine attributes of a religious
object, yet even such experience can be held back, or unduly circumscribed,
when the transcendent reference-point is rendered conveniently familiar. Hence
the dictum against graven images.
The full essay is at "Experience of Transcendence."
The essay pertains to chapter 3, "Spiritual Leadership Revised," in Spiritual Leadership in Business: Transcending the Ethical, which is available at Amazon in print and as an ebook.