Empathic Space and Shared Consciousness: Museums and the Application of the Spread Mind Theory

What is the role of a museum? Does it fulfill mostly an institutional function: – preserve, display, and educating? – or, does it offer an opportunity for a deeper experience by allowing people to share a common existential space in which they can transcend their individuality? In this chapter, I will defend the latter view based on historical, philosophical, and scientific context. Especially, in a time of divisive worldviews and rhetoric, revisiting the original intent of museums, as well as our understanding of mind and conscious experience beyond existing outdated models, could provide alternative ways through which we can experience our shared existence.