5217. 'And the thin heads swallowed up the seven fat and full heads' means that the facts which were useless banished the facts that were good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the thin heads' as facts that are useless, dealt with above in 5214; from the meaning of 'fat and full heads' as facts into which matters of faith and charity could be instilled, dealt with in 5213, which are consequently facts that are good; and from the meaning of 'swallowing up' as banishing, which is similar to 'devouring', as said of the cows above in 5206. Regarding the banishment of good facts by useless ones, or the banishment of truths by falsities, see 5207.

[2] The same applies in the spiritual world. Where falsities are present no truths can remain; and conversely, where truths are present no falsities can remain. The one group banishes the other, since they are complete opposites, for the reason that falsities originate in hell and truths in heaven. Sometimes it does seem as though falsities and truths are present together in the same subject; but the falsities in this case are not complete opposites of the truths there, but ones that are attached to those truths through the ways they are used. A subject in which truths and falsities that are complete opposites exist together is called lukewarm, while a subject in which falsities and truths have become mixed together is called profane.

5205. 'And stood by the [other] cows on the bank of the river' means at the boundaries where the truths were present. This is clear from the meaning of 'standing by, on the bank of the river' as at the boundaries, 'the river' meaning a boundary, see 5196, 5197; and from the meaning of 'the cows' as the truths belonging to the natural, dealt with above in 5198. The implications of this - of falsities standing at the boundaries where truths were - will be evident from what appears further on, in particular at the point where the meaning in the internal sense of the seven years of famine in the land of Egypt comes up for explanation, those seven years being foretold and meant by the seven cows that were bad in appearance and thin-fleshed, and also by the seven heads of grain that were thin and scorched by an east wind.