A vision is a picture or a series of pictures that God gives you while you are awake. Dreams are pictures that you receive while you are asleep. Sometimes people may call this a night vision. A better way to understand this is that they had a literal dream. Dreams are symbolic, while visions are much more literal in their meaning. Visions will still take on God's language but are much easier to interpret and understand. There are many different types of visions. Here are just three of them:
Open-eye vision. When this happens your eyes will be open and the Spiritual realm supersedes your natural vision and you begin to see spiritual things unfold right before you like a movie.
Closed-eye vision This one is more common. This can happen while you are in prayer with your eyes closed and you begin to see pictures or just one picture. When this happens you still are aware of what is going on around you and if someone came up and spoke to you it would not stop what you are seeing.
Snap-shot vision This happens more often when praying for someone and see the picture appear before your eyes. For the most part, this happens when your eyes are closed but can happen when your eyes are open. You will find that if you see a picture with your eyes open you can close your eyes to see the picture more clearly. If you share the picture with the one whom you are praying for, then this can become a prophetic word.

The Word says in the last days the Holy Spirit will be giving many visions and dreams. “In the last days,” God said, “I will pour out my Holy Spirit upon all mankind, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men dream dreams.” (Acts 2:17 TLB)

Visions are a special and unique way of hearing from the Lord. Some speak of vision as a general term, as in visualizing a future perspective, or goal. However, the Greek and Hebrew refer to vision as sight.

Vision; gaze, look, behold, see, sight, and view.
[2375/2377 Heb Strong’s and 3706/3705 Gk Strong’s]

A Biblical vision is a literal, spiritual and sometimes a physical happening. It’s not a product of the mind, imagination or logic. Receiving a vision is a gift from the Lord: an experience of sight, not the imagination. For purposes of definitions there are 5 types of visions:

1. Pictures, like a still photograph, on the screen of the mind. (In my rhema, I call them PIX:)

2. Visions which are moving scenes.

3. Visions of gazing wonder which are like trances.

4. Visions through the opening of the literal eyes.

5. Being carried away in the Spirit which is revelatory experience
The following is a list of Biblical references about the purposes of visions:

1. Encouragement, hope, and promise

(To Abram) Genesis 15:1-6

2.Announcement of judgment

(To Samuel about Eli) 1 Samuel 3:1-18

3.Reveals secrets and an interpretation of a dream (To Daniel) Daniel 2:19

4.The announcement of a servant’s calling

(To Zacharias for John) Luke 1:22

5.An announcement of good tidings

(The women saw a vision of angels announcing Jesus was alive.) Luke 24:23

6.Guidance and explicit instructions

(To Ananias for Saul) Acts 9:10

7.Changes an opinion and gives an assignment

(To Peter about the Gentiles) Acts 11:5-10

8.Guidance to change locations

(For Paul to go to Macedonia) Acts 16:9

Usually, if someone participates in a vision, the responses are evoked by His Spirit, they come out of our spirit and not our natural mind, will or emotions. Visions come from the realm of the spirit world and are not a part of our soul. Our soul is our mind or thoughts, our will or violation, and our emotions.

For the most part, we don’t have participation with a vision, it is something that we simply observe, like being a witness to seeing something that is totally separated from ourselves. A vision is not something we interact with.
However there are realms of visions that are higher up in the scale where we can enter into trances which are experiencing visions of gazing wonder, and we are unconscious when we experience them. In those type of visions, we do experience ecstasy in our emotions and all of our senses. However, if we participate in them as in speaking, it is evoked by the Holy Spirit upon our spirits and it is our spirits that respond, using our mouths like when someone is speaking in tongues. Some who are taken into trances are given the Holy Spirit unction to speak out loud what they are experiencing and/or seeing.

In the highest realms of visions are encountered. These are when one experiences visitations. In that level of experience, one can participate with their mind, will, and emotions but under restraints of the great fear and love within the Presence of the Lord.

1 Samuel 9 Names of God Bible (NOG)

Saul Searches for His Father’s Donkeys

9 There was a man from the tribe of Benjamin whose name was Kish. He was a son of Abiel, grandson of Zeror, and great-grandson of Becorath, whose father was Aphiah, a descendant of Benjamin. Kish was a powerful man. ² He had a son named Saul, a handsome, young man. No man in Israel was more handsome than Saul. He stood a head taller than everyone else.

³ When some donkeys belonging to Saul’s father Kish were lost, Kish told Saul, “Take one of the servants with you, and go look for the donkeys.”

⁴ They went through the mountains of Ephraim and the region of Shalisha without finding the donkeys. Then Saul and his servant went through the region of Shaalim, but the donkeys weren’t there. The men went through the territory of Benjamin but still didn’t find them. ⁵ When they came to the territory of Zuph, Saul told his servant who was with him, “Let’s go back, or my father will stop worrying about the donkeys and worry about us instead.”

Saul Seeks Samuel’s Advice

⁶ The servant responded, “There’s a man of Elohim in this city, a highly respected man. Everything he says is sure to happen. Let’s go there. Maybe he’ll tell us which way we should go.”

⁷ “If we go,” Saul asked his servant, “what could we bring the man since the food in our sacks is gone? There’s no present we can bring the man of Elohim. What do we have?”

⁸ The servant again answered Saul, “Look, here! I have one-tenth of an ounce of silver. I’ll give it to the man of Elohim. Then he’ll tell us where to find the donkeys.”

⁹ (Formerly in Israel, when a person went to ask Elohim a question, he would say, “Come, let’s go to the seer,” because a person we now call a prophet used to be called a Seer.)

¹⁰ Saul told his servant, “That’s a good idea! Come on, let’s go.” They went to the city where the man of Elohim was.

¹¹ As they were going up the hill to the city, they met girls coming out to get water. They asked the girls, “Is the seer here?”

¹² The girls answered, “He’s there ahead of you. Hurry! He just went into the city today since the people are offering a sacrifice on the worship site. ¹³ As you go into the city, you can find him before he goes to the worship site to eat. The people will not eat until he comes, since he blesses the sacrifice. Then those who are invited may eat. Go. You should be able to find him now.”

¹⁴ So Saul and his servant went to the city. As they entered it, Samuel was coming toward them on his way to the worship site. ¹⁵ Now, Yahweh had revealed the following message to Samuel one day before Saul came: ¹⁶ “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the territory of Benjamin. Anoint him to be ruler of my people Israel. He will save my people from the Philistines because I’ve seen my people’s suffering and their cry has come to me.” ¹⁷ When Samuel noticed Saul, Yahweh told him, “There’s the man I told you about. This man will govern my people.”

¹⁸ Saul approached Samuel inside the gateway and said, “Please tell me where the seer’s house is.”

¹⁹ Samuel replied, “I’m the Seer. Go ahead of me to the worship site. You will eat with me today. In the morning I’ll let you go after I tell you all that’s on your mind. ²⁰ Don’t trouble yourself about the donkeys that were lost three days ago because they’ve been found. Who will have all that is desirable in Israel? Won’t it be you and your father’s family?”

²¹ Saul replied, “I am a man from the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest tribe of Israel. My family is the most insignificant of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin. So why are you saying such things to me?”

²² Samuel brought Saul and his servant to the banquet hall and had them sit at the head of the guests—about 30 people. ²³ Samuel said to the cook, “Bring me the portion of the sacrificial meat that I gave you and told you to put aside.” ²⁴ So the cook picked up the leg and thigh^[a]and laid it in front of Saul. Samuel said, “This was kept in order to be laid in front of you. Eat it. When I invited people to the feast, I set it aside for you.”^[b] Saul ate with Samuel that day.

²⁵ Then they left the worship site for the city. They spread blankets on the roof for Saul, and he slept there.^[c]

²⁶ At dawn Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Get up! It’s time for me to send you away.” Saul got up, and both he and Samuel went outside. ²⁷ As they were going toward the city limits, Samuel told Saul, “Have the servant go ahead of you.” (He went ahead.) “But you stay here, and I will tell you Elohim’s word.”