1385. Er zijn geesten, die tot de streek van de huid, vooral van de schubachtige huid behoren, die over alles willen redeneren en geenszins gewaarworden, wat goed en waar is, en die het zelfs hoe meer zij redeneren, des te minder gewaarworden, doordat zij in het redeneren de wijsheid stellen, en ook zo als wijs gezien te worden. Hun werd gezegd, dat de wijsheid van de engelen bestaat in het innerlijk gewaarworden of iets goed en waar is, zonder geredeneer; maar zij begrijpen niet, dat zo’n innerlijke gewaarwording kan bestaan Het zijn diegenen, die in het leven van het lichaam het goede en het ware verward hebben door wetenschappelijke en filosofische dingen, en zich vandaar voor geleerder hielden dan anderen en die van te voren niet enig beginsel van het ware uit het Woord hadden opgenomen; en zij hebben daarom minder gezonde rede.

3703. There were from the societies constituting the skin, as mentioned, some who were accustomed to argue from time to time, but I realized then more clearly than ever before that argumentation is the epitome of unwisdom, and that those who reason perceive nothing of what is true and good - that the more one reasons, the less one perceives, counting on reasoning to seem wise in the eyes of others and wiser than others in one's own. I also clearly realized, and said, that such people perceive nothing, and that it is the part of intelligence and wisdom to perceive at once, without reasoning, whether something is true and good. For they who are intelligent and wise, and consequently, angels, perceive at once without any reasoning whether something is true or good, as is well known to all. For when someone argues for hours at a time, and through a whole volume, those who are intelligent and wise know in a moment what is true and good, nor do they pay any attention to the reasoners' arguments, but laugh at them and regard within themselves as of no account. Nothing is more common than this.

For this reason I became indignant at reasoners, whenever I was prompted to refute their arguments. And they are the ones who constitute the scaly skin. They are for the most part those who in life became such by drawing truth and goodness into confusion by means of philosophic and scientific trivia, who have less common sense, if any, than the most uneducated.