What does it mean to be "carried away in the Spirit"? -- Part 1

Nephi's visions starts this way

I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, into an exceedingly high mountain, which I never had before seen, and upon which I never had before set my foot. (1 Nephi 11:1)

The term "caught away in the Spirit" caught my interest (pun not intended), mainly because I'm not quite sure what it means. 2 Nephi 4:25 sheds more light on this verse.

And upon the wings of his Spirit hath my body been carried away upon exceedingly high mountains. And mine eyes have beheld great things, yea, even too great for man; therefore I was bidden that I should not write them.

This is a clear reference to 1 Nephi 11-14. We recognize the term, "exceedingly high mountain" from 1 Nephi 11:1 and also the fact that he was forbidden to write parts of his vision. From this verse it is clear that the high mountain wasn't just non-physical and part of the vision. Nephi's body was actually there. But what does it mean to be carried away there in the Spirit? I don't know the answer but I have two thoughts.

1. A transformation of the body?

In 2. Corinthians 12:2, the Apostle Paul refers to himself when he says:

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven.

In a similar account in 3 Nephi 28:13

And behold, the heavens were opened, and they were caught up into heaven, and saw and heard unspeakable things.

Paul says he doesn't know whether he was in or out of his body. The three disciples don't know either.

And whether they were in the body or out of the body, they could not tell; (3 Nephi 28:15)

But Mormon finds out

36 And now behold, as I spake concerning those whom the Lord hath chosen, yea, even three who were caught up into the heavens, that I knew not whether they were cleansed from mortality to immortality—37 But behold, since I wrote, I have inquired of the Lord, and he hath made it manifest unto me that there must needs be a change wrought upon their bodies, or else it needs be that they must taste of death (2 Nephi 28:36-37)

So we learn that they were in their bodies, but their bodies were somehow transformed. Could it be that "caught up into heaven" and "caught away in the Spirit" mean similar things, in which case Nephi describes a transformation of his body to be able to endure the presence of heavenly beings and see the things he was shown?

2. Guided/aided/lifted by the Spirit

Finding the expression, "wings of his Spirit" in 2 Nephi 4 quite interesting, I tried to learn more about wings. The Hebrew word for wing is "kanaph". It can also mean edge, border or corner and is associated with clothing, typically the edge of a garment. I don't know who "the Spirit" is in this case, but we learn from 1 Nephi 11 that he had the form of a man that Nephi could converse with face to face. So presumably he wore a garment of some kind? Perhaps the "caught/carried" away is more literal than I initially thought and Nephi was somehow helped or guided by the Spirit up to the mountain by holding on to the edge of his garment and/or being lifted somehow?

The Hebrew preposition "be" is translated as either "in" or "by", so "carried away in the Spirit" and "carried away by the Spirit" is the same thing. In the Book of Moses 6:64, we read

And it came to pass, when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water.

Notice the same passive language: Nephi was caught/carried away and Adam was caught away and carried down. So who baptized Adam and how? I'm not quite sure, but it seems that the Spirit of the Lord took the active role and somehow baptized Adam. Presumably, he also helped Nephi up to that mountain top in a similar way. I know this all sounds very physical, while realizing that "the Spirit of the Lord" likely did not have a physical body. I have no idea how this all works, I'm just going where the scriptural accounts seem to lead me.

Of course, these two possible interpretations are not mutually exclusive.

In Part 2 we will look at common patterns in the various "carried away in Spirit" accounts.