1 Nephi 1:8

8 And being thus overcome with the Spirit, he was carried away in a avision, even that he saw the bheavens open, and he thought he csaw God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God.

I find it interesting that what Lehi saw and heard during the “pillar of fire” on the rock experience, came in response to his earnest prayer. His experience starting in this verse, of a “vision” came from him “being thus overcome with the Spirit”. The character of the two experiences must have been quite different, both in the form of their presentation and the content of their message. Also it seems that the first was to confirm to Lehi that his faith in what the prophets were saying was justified; that Jerusalem would be destroyed if the people did not repent. The second, the vision seems more of a reward, blessing and a calling to the ministry.
What is implied by: “he was carried away”? Is there an actual out of body experience, a physical bodily “carried away” experience, a total release from the thoughts and concerns of this life, or something else that we cannot quite grasp without having that experience ourselves?
In the vision Lehi “saw the heavens open” but he only “thought he saw God”. Is there significance to this difference? What is the throne of God? Is it to represent his kingship and power? Is it used in vision so as to point out who God is?
A vision must be a remarkable way to receive information from God. More than eyes can perceive, the mind seems to be populated with data in parallel, thus communicating base information required to understand thing unfathomable without this base. These thoughts are raised by Lehi’s description of those singing and praising God.
A concourse is defined as an assembly, a gathering, a meeting in one place, a great crowd; a throng. It boggles the mind th think of what “numberless concourses” would be. And in fact, was he metaphorically saying they were “numberless” or were they in fact an infinite number? We must not put our finite thinking onto God!