715. Having seven heads.- That this signifies the knowledge (scientia) of the holy things of the Word, which they have adulterated, and consequent insanity, but yet craftiness, is evident from the signification of head, as denoting intelligence and wisdom, and in the opposite sense insanity and folly, (concerning which see above, n. 553, 577, and that it also denotes craftiness, n. 577); and from the signification of seven, which denotes all men and all things, and is said of that which is holy (concerning which see above, n. 257), in this case therefore, of the holy things of the Word, which they have adulterated. As seven is used in reference to holy things, it is also, in the opposite sense, used in reference to those things when adulterated and profaned; for in the Word every expression has also an opposite sense, and the opposite of what is holy is what is profane. It is clear from these things that the seven heads, which the dragon was seen to have, do not mean heads, or seven, but the knowledge (scientia) of the holy things of the Word, which they have adulterated, and, consequent insanity, but yet craftiness.
[2] Insanity is signified by the head of the dragon, because the intelligence of the man of the church is from genuine truths from the Word. The truly human understanding is formed and perfected by means of natural, civil, moral, and spiritual truths, the interior understanding by means of spiritual truths, but the exterior by means of moral and civil truths; such therefore as the truths are, such is the understanding that is formed from them. All spiritual truths are from the Word, and make one with the good of love and of charity. When therefore a man places everything of the church and of heaven in faith, and separates the good of charity and of love from that faith, as those do who form the head of the dragon, as stated in the preceding article, then the interior understanding cannot be formed, consequently, instead of intelligence in spiritual things, they have insanity. For from a false principle falsities flow forth in a continual series, and, in consequence of the separation of the good of charity, they cannot possibly have any genuine truth, since all truth is of good, and in fact, is good in form. From this it is clear that the head of the dragon signifies insanity in spiritual things.
[3] The head of the dragon also signifies craftiness, because all those who form its head are merely natural and sensual, and if such have at the same time studied the Word and the doctrine of the church, and have seized upon falsities instead of truths, and have also confirmed these by knowledges (scientifice), they are crafty above all others. But this craftiness is not so manifest in the world as it is afterwards when they become spirits; for in the world they cover over their craftiness with external piety and feigned morality, which conceal it from view, but as the craftiness is in their spirit, it is plainly manifest when externals are removed, as is the case in the spiritual world. But it must be understood that the craftiness which is signified by the head of the dragon is craftiness in perverting the truths and goods of the Word by reasonings from fallacies and sophistries, also from persuasive things, by means of which the understanding is fascinated, thus by giving to falsities the appearance of truths. That this is the case is also evident from the serpent by which the first parents were seduced, which is said, "to have been more crafty than any wild beast of the field" (Gen. iii. 1); for the signification of that serpent is similar to that of the dragon. Therefore the latter is also called "the old serpent that seduceth the whole world," in the ninth verse of this chapter.
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