Reason is the ability to logically represent and analyze situations. It is the ability to correctly answer the question, “what benefits?” Reason can be quantified in terms of the degree of complexity of the situations you can correctly understand.
Wisdom is the process of applying reason. While it is difficult to overstate the cost of wisdom, it is equally difficult to overstate the benefit of having it. Wisdom is a gift that will pay unlimited dividends; it will flow benefits in every situation.
You can quantify reason by what outcomes you can successfully predict and to what degree of accuracy. One who has great wisdom will know paths of great value, and will correctly predict things that no one else sees coming. The greater the wisdom, the more routinely this will occur. Because of this ability, people with great powers of reasoning tend to be successful in the worldly sense, because they see opportunities and ways to leverage them that others do not.
Most people can successfully reason through simple situations. As the situations become more complex, the number of people who have sufficient reason to correctly understand the situation quickly diminishes. Factors that limit wisdom include limits in IQ and the ability to overcome natural human bias. In both cases, one’s limits will inhibit their ability to see things as they really are. Unfortunately, in both cases, the limits of awareness include awareness of those limits. In other words, those hamstrung with a lower IQ or an ignorance of their biases do not understand the limits that come with it. They neither see their own limits, nor what would be possible without them.
As with all good things, God grants some measure of wisdom to certain people as a gift (that is, by nature). However, like all gifts from God, it is not just present in those who have received it in the form of a gift. It can also be cultivated.
God will give wisdom amply to those who seek it. No matter how much wisdom you find yourself with, God provides a path for you to acquire and apply more reason. There is no limit to how much reason you can have. It is possible to have so much reason that you can conquer any challenge possible in this life. In fact, to overcome all things and obtain eternal life, you must have sufficient reasons to seek and obey God at all hazards.
God has said in plainness that all good things are available to all people: “And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.” (Moroni 7:33) Some people actually believe this:
And I said unto them: If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done. (1 Nephi 17:50)
These people manage to live incredible lives, finding great joy and satisfaction in envisioning, desiring, working towards, and obtaining the good things God has prepared for those who love him.
Unfortunately, instead of thinking conscientiously about what they really want, why they really want it, and how to get it, most people live their lives as if what they receive has nothing to do with what they feel, think, and do:
O how marvelous are the works of the Lord, and how long doth he suffer with his people; yea, and how blind and impenetrable are the understandings of the children of men; for they will not seek wisdom, neither do they desire that she should rule over them! (Mosiah 8:20)
Everything from God comes commensurate with how diligent you are willing to be in seeking it and how humble you are in responding to what you learn:
`...Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart. (1 Nephi 2:19)`
Faith is what determines both how much effort you are willing to exert in seeking God and how obedient you are willing to be to God. Limits in effort will result in limits in learning. Limits in humility will prevent learning more about who you really are, who God really is, how reality really is, and how other people are. Lack of humility will prevent you from seeing the areas you can improve in yourself, and will therefore cut you off from making the changes that stand in the way of your obtaining what you seek.
God said that anyone who seeks him will be shown how to obtain what they seek:
7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. (Matthew 7)
What does asking, seeking, and knocking look like? It means you actively search for the path to obtain what you seek, you honestly and consistently do what lies on the path and abstain from what takes you off of it or slows your progress on it, and you update your understanding of the path as you learn more about it through time and experience.
We limit what God can give us through our reasoning: what we are willing to consider, what effort of reasoning we are willing to apply, what powers of reasoning we are willing to develop, and how audacious we are willing to be in adhering to what reason suggests. What are you willing to question? How far are you willing to go in asking questions and seeking answers? How much effort are you willing to spend developing the ability to reason? How strong are you in turning away from conventional wisdom when you have strong reasons to? Are you willing to act according toreason even if it brings the ridicule, persecution, and even violence of others?
Those with great faith have great powers of reason. They are able to see the true relationship of cause and effect to a greater degree than most because they exercise more effort in learning how to reason and in reasoning about life. They do not allow their emotions to direct their paths, but do all things with reason. They are happy to have God point out to them the limits of their present understanding so that they can gain wisdom.