The idea came together through the great thinkers of the past — and the stories of Winnie the Pooh.
Alan Hagedorn had always been drawn to big ideas and the power of words. The Center Grove High School social studies teacher has explored philosophy and faith traditions from all over the world, from Christian denominations to interfaith groups to Buddhism, Hinduism and Daoism.
At the same time, he found that the tales of Pooh and his friends captured truths about humanity that were profound.
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In the course of his own intellectual discoveries, Hagedorn has put his ideas out for the public to consume. He has written books — for both adults and children — exploring the values of good, truth, and beauty.
At the core of his thinking is the concept of “opennessence” — a merging of openness and essence. His hope is that by presenting these thoughts that he can offer people a new perspective. Starting today and continuing weekly, he will have a regular column featured in the Daily Journal.
“It is my goal and hope to invite people to open their lives to more of the world and more of themselves,” he said. “I would like to help people to see themselves more clearly so they can find more value in their existence.
“It is not necessarily my goal to replace the values or views that people have but offer them an overlay that helps them see connections in their current thinking.”
The seeds of opennessence extend back to Hagedorn’s childhood as a very inquisitive kid, but the idea truly started growing shortly after Hagedorn’s two children, Isaac and Sophie, were born. As is true for many new parents, he struggled with how he could provide them the right values, work ethic, instructions and tools to be successful in the world.
From the very start, he found a good foundation in the stories of Winnie the Pooh and his friends. He read the early poems and books of A.A. Milne, as well as other books such as “The Tao of Pooh” by Benjamin Hoff, Huston Smith’s “The World’s Religions,” Ken Wilbur’s “A Theory of Everything” and the works of Dr. Seuss.
Hagedorn and his kids also created a nighttime mantra together: “Be good, be true, be you. Be open-hearted, be open-minded, and be open-2-happiness … you, me, everybody.” The saying was inspired by the book, “Six Great Ideas” by Mortimer Abner.
They would open the five fingers of their hand and their palm to represent the initial six concepts in their mantra. It became a game.
“After we did it, they would tell me a story about how they learned about one of the ‘open’ finger values that day or how they saw one of them in a new way. Sharing with friends at day care was a good way to share — to be good. Patting a crying peer on the back while they are recovering was being open-hearted. Devising a new way to stack blocks was being open-minded,” he wrote on his website detailing opennessence.
Those ideas evolved and grew over time and as Hagedorn’s children got older. At the same time, he poured into researching different ways of thinking in philosophy and religion, seeing similarities with his own formation of opennessence.
“There was a lot of confirmation I found through other faith traditions, philosophical systems, psychological research, philosophical research. I’m onto something here. It’s not just totally arbitrary, there are lots of foundations underneath what I felt was a gift,” he said.
He wrote a book, “Opennessence,” an illustrated book detailing the concept and weaving through the different thought processes behind it.
For kids, he wrote a pair of books simplifying these thoughts: “Frames,” a story about the perspective on which you approach the world that was illustrated by one of his former students, Conner Pak; and “Curves and Corners,” which approaches differences and universal love.
He started an Opennessence website which he updates with his thoughts and snippets of his research.
Hagedorn hopes by pouring over this information and breaking it down for people, he can give people the core of what he’s researched — a kind of summary for people to get started.
“I want to give them a little bit of a comparative view. As a social studies teacher, we believe that every group of people has a culture and every culture has a purpose and helps sustain the people, so it has value and usefulness,” he said. “To help them see that common humanity across cultures, and the commonness of values across cultures.”
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Alan Hagedorn
Home: Center Grove area
Occupation: Social studies teacher, Center Grove High School
Information: Opennessence.com
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