According to Dallas Willard, reason is the mental power to trace out connections in reality. The reasonable person is the one who is devoted to truth, and to finding it and living in it by all available means. (http://www.dwillard.org/resources/WillardWords.asp)
For example, let’s say you have a friend or relative who starts making you uneasy. You can’t pinpoint what it is that makes you uncomfortable--just this nagging sense that something feels ‘off’ about the situation. If you like this person and have invested time and energy into this relationship--you will be reluctant to accept these intuitions.
Most of us have our minds made up about certain things. We develop tunnel vision. We ignore signs that our beliefs need updating. When we cannot or will not accept the correlation between certain behaviors or events, we are being unreasonable.
Reason is the ability to recognize signs of Truth. It allows us to make connections. It prevents us from ignoring symptoms of malignancy, false beliefs, and corruption. When a decision we have made turns out to be wrong, when a job for which we relocated ends up being unsuitable, when a friend we trusted betrays us--it is difficult to accept that our judgment was off. Reason enables us to operate under the influence of Truth, even when it is uncomfortable.
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