715. Having seven heads, signifies the knowledge of the holy things of the Word, which they have adulterated, and consequent insanity, and yet craftiness. This is evident from the signification of "head," as being intelligence and wisdom, and in the contrary sense insanity and folly (of which above, n. 553, 577), and that it also means craftiness (n. 577); also from the signification of "seven," which is all persons and all things, and is predicated of things holy see above, n. 257, so here of the holy things of the Word, which they have adulterated. As "seven" is predicated of things holy, so also in the contrary sense it is predicated of holy things adulterated and profaned, for in the Word every word has also a contrary sense, and what is contrary to what is holy is profane. From this it is clear that heads and seven are not meant by the "seven heads" that the dragon was seen to have, but the knowledge of the holy things of the Word which they have adulterated, and consequent insanity but yet craftiness.

[2] "The head of the dragon" signifies insanity, because the intelligence of the man of the church is from genuine truths which are from the Word. The truly human understanding is formed and perfected by natural, civil, moral, and spiritual truths, the interior understanding by spiritual truths, but the exterior by moral and civil truths; therefore such as the truths are such is the understanding that is formed of them. All spiritual truths are from the Word, and make one with the good of love and charity. When, therefore, a man places everything of the church and of heaven in faith, and separates from that faith the good of charity and love, as those do who constitute "the head of the dragon," as has been said in the preceding article, then the interior understanding cannot be formed, consequently in place of intelligence in things spiritual such have insanity; for from a false principle falsities flow in a continual series, and from the separation of the good of charity no genuine truth can be given them, since all truth is of good, yea, is good in form. Thence it is evident that "the head of the dragon" signifies insanity in spiritual things.

[3] "The head of the dragon" also signifies craftiness, because all those who constitute his head are merely natural and sensual, and if these have at the same time studied the Word and the doctrine of the church, and have caught at falsities in place of truths, and have confirmed these by knowledges, they are crafty above the others; but this craftiness does not manifest itself in the world as it does afterwards when they become spirits, for in the world they cover over the craftiness with external piety and feigned morality which conceal it; but as the craftiness abides in their spirit it is plainly manifest when externals are removed, as is done in the spiritual world. But it is to be known that the craftiness signified by "the head of the dragon" is a craftiness in perverting the truths and goods of the Word by means of reasonings from fallacies and sophistries, also from things persuasive, by which the understanding is fascinated, thus by inducing upon falsities the appearance that they are true. That this is so can be seen from "the serpent" by which the first parents were led astray, that is said to have been:

More crafty than any wild beast of the field (Genesis 3:1);

that "serpent" having a similar signification as "the dragon," therefore the dragon is also called "the old serpent that seduceth the whole world," in the ninth verse of this chapter.

4742. 'The tunic of various colours that was on him' means the nature of the appearances which is determined by that of the truths derived from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the tunic of various colours' as appearances of truth by which the spiritual of the natural is recognized and distinguished, dealt with in 4677, here therefore the nature of those appearances; and for this reason the word 'tunic' is used twice - 'they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of various colours'. The fact that the nature of these appearances is determined by that of the truths derived from good may be known from appearances of truth when these are manifested visually in the light of heaven, that is, in the next life. There no other light exists than that which comes from the Lord by way of heaven and which emanates from His Divine Truth; for this appears before the eyes of the angels as light, 2776, 3190, 3195, 3222, 3339, 3340, 3636, 3643, 3993, 4302, 4413, 4415. This light varies with each angel, depending on his reception of it. Angels' entire thought is formed by the variegation of that light, as also is man's thought, though he is not conscious of this because in man's case that light falls onto material images or ideas present in his natural or external man which are formed from the light of the world.

Consequently in his case the light of heaven is dimmed to such an extent that he scarcely knows that the light and sight in his understanding are a product of the light of heaven. But in the next life when the sight of the eye is no longer reliant on the light of the world but on that of heaven it is then obvious that his thought is formed from the latter.

[2] When this light passes from heaven into the world of spirits it manifests itself there in the form of various colours, the beauty, variation, and loveliness of these colours being immensely superior to the colours produced by the light of the world; see what has already been presented from experience regarding colours, in 1053, 1624, 3993, 4530, 4677. Because colours in the next life are formed from the light of heaven they are in origin nothing else than appearances of truth derived from good. The source from which truth shines is not truth itself because by itself alone it does not possess any flame; rather, good is the source of it since this is like the flame from which light shines. The nature of good therefore determines the nature of the truth that appears from it, and the nature of the truth is the same as that of the good from which it shines. From this one may see what is meant in the internal sense by 'the tunic of various colours' - that the nature of the appearances is determined by that of the truths derived from good; for as shown already, 'Joseph', to whom the tunic belonged, represents Divine Truth.