The Call of the Void

Day 17 / 365

Have you ever stood on a balcony, or near the edge of a roof and had the sudden realization that you could just jump? It’s not suicidal, you don’t actually want to jump. You just have the thought “You know I could just jump”, and you sometimes have to physically move away cause you are so afraid of the thought.

This phenomenon is termed “The call of the void”, and is quite common. The term originated in France, as — l’appel du vide

At first thought, there doesn’t seem to be an obvious explanation for this. Most of our biological and mental experience has some sort of evolutionary origins. Take dreams for example. Some psychologists believe that our ability to dream developed due to evolution, as dreams served the purpose of problem-solving. What sort of evolutionary advantage could an urge to jump off a cliff have?

What causes this feeling?

One explanation is that this feeling might just be a trick of the mind, something like Deja vu. Maybe when you are standing at the edge at a high place, your brain subconsciously gives you a signal to step back, which causes you to be afraid or maybe to actually step back. Then your conscious mind kicks in and tries to reason this.

Why am I afraid?

Why did I step back? I’m perfectly safe here

or maybe I wanted to jump

This Reddit comment sums it up quite well

Intrusive Thoughts

There are a lot of other impulsive thoughts like this, part of a larger genre called Intrusive thoughts. Things like the urge to scream in the middle of a meeting, or to throw a baby you are holding. It happens to most of us, and most of us don’t act on it. However, if these start to become intense and frequent it’s best to seek professional help.

This story is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here