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.
