What is the “black void”? A common type of dream shared by various dreamers? Another “glitch” in the dream matrix? Or is there really a kind of loading screen before a dream begins?

Is There A Space Between Dreams?

“Black void” is a strange phenomenon sometimes occurring in lucid dreams. It is quite rare but not too rare to be dismissed as a singular occasion. It is a dark and empty space, where nothing happens but lucidity level is very high and you can literally travel between dreams.

Interesting that everyone who experienced “black void” immediately recognizes it as “the space between dreams”. Each dreamer gives it a different name (“Black Void”, “The Nothing”, “Loading Space”), but the idea remains the same: it is a space outside our usual dreaming. It is hard to say how we know that. But all dreamers agree that it is not a usual dream: it is a very special state of mind, the nature of which is not clear.

If we assume that “black void” is indeed a lucid state between two dreams, we have to accept that we can become lucid in a non-REM phase, when we are asleep but not dreaming. People who practice meditation sometimes achieve similar states. How this mechanism works in sleep, for those who do not practice any kind of meditation, is hard to say.

It is clear, though, that “black void” state does not last for too long. It usually gives a dreamer an uneasy feeling and desire to return into a dream. It is also interesting to note that you neither walk nor fly in “black void”. It feels like nothing but your consciousness exists in this state.

How To Get Into the “Black Void”?

Some dreamers say that you can be “thrown out” into the “black void” if you try to do something unusual and energy-consuming in a dream (like levitating numerous objects, transforming your or somebody else’s appearance or teleporting).

One dreamer received a clear suggestion from a dream character that he should “re-load” his dream in order to perform transformation, and then he found himself in the “black void”, observing the previous dream from the outside.

My own “black void” experience happened when I tried to change a dream subject. I had no idea how to go about it, so I started to fly upwards, so that the current scene would somehow disappear. And suddenly I felt like I’ve crossed some line, a border, and there was nothing around me but the black void, which reminded me about open space. I felt uneasy but wasn’t scared. Somehow I knew for sure where I was: in the space between dreams.

I started to move forward, or maybe upwards – it was really hard to tell. At the same time I was thinking about a good place, full of light, where the previous disturbing dream won’t continue. So the light started to get brighter. I couldn’t see clearly at first, just felt something touching my face. In the next moment the vision became clear and I found I was standing in a sunlit yard surrounded by clean sheets drying on the ropes. I woke up in a couple of minutes.

Based on my experience and the information I gathered in the Internet, I think at least two factors are responsible for our transition into the “black void” state:

1. You have to be lucid in order to get into the “black void”, because…
2. You have to perform an activity that is complicated and engaging enough to raise your level of lucidity to a degree when you can completely detach yourself from the dream, observing it from outside or leaving it completely.

The “black void” phenomenon seems to be rare among dreamers, but the similarities between the experiences of different dreamers are too numerous for us to ignore its existence.

I believe that once we have more information, we will be able to incorporate the “black void” into the common lucid dreaming techniques, improving our abilities of dream control, prolonging the lucid state (since it seems to be unlimited in the “black void”, until you transfer into another dream) and helping us to learn more about dreaming mechanisms.

Good luck and sweet dreams!