“Was Joseph Smith’s First Vision a visitation or a dream such as Lehi’s vision?,” First Vision Accounts (2022)
“Was Joseph Smith’s First Vision a visitation or a dream such as Lehi’s vision?,” First Vision Accounts
Was Joseph Smith’s First Vision a visitation or a dream such as Lehi’s vision?
It is natural to wonder and easy to speculate about the nature of visionary experiences. The reality is that we don’t have answers to every question about such events. In this case, we only know what people like Joseph and Lehi said about their visions in the accounts that have survived.
Although Joseph Smith and Lehi both used the word vision to describe their experiences, their accounts differ. This is because visionary experiences can occur in a variety of ways. Lehi uses the terms vision and dream interchangeably, declaring, “I have dreamed a dream; or, in other words, I have seen a vision.”1 His dream occurs on a symbolic landscape and involves multitudes of people who were not present when and where he had the dream.
On the other hand, Joseph Smith spoke of walking alone into the woods near his home, kneeling among the trees, springing to his feet when startled by a noise, and feeling his ability to speak limited by an unseen power. After praying, he saw a light above him and thought the trees in the grove might catch fire. He testified that he saw two personages who knew his name. He asked Them questions and received answers. His accounts describe an alert young man, actively seeking help and conversing with heavenly beings.
Joseph described a physical setting for the vision, but he also indicated that while praying “[his] mind was taken away from the objects with which [he] was surrounded, and [he] was enwrapped in a heavenly vision.”2 He recalled that after the vision, he “came to [him]self again” and “found [him]self lying on [his] back, looking up into heaven.”3 These statements suggest there was more involved than Joseph simply using his natural eyes and ears to witness and interact with the Father and the Son. This was, after all, a miraculous vision.4
It is not surprising that Joseph found it difficult to adequately describe such an extraordinary and sacred experience. In his 1838 account he clarified so there could be no misunderstanding: “I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me. … I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it.”5