Being Philosophical

Aliza AbarbanelCulture Editor A group of teenage Orthodox Jews suddenly parts as a half naked homeless man on roller blades bursts through the mob of boys, an electric guitar and amp strapped to his back. The wails of the guitar mix with the shouts of medical marijuana salesmen, almost drowning out the sounds of the boy discussing philosophy on the street corner.The boy is Alex Smolentsev (’13), a Samo student and  philosopher. During finals week of his junior year, his constant search for enlightenment and knowledge led him to the famed Venice Beach Boardwalk. In the hub of tourists and vendors, amidst the urban circus, Smolentsev created his first public discussion. He holds a cardboard sign emblazoned with a simple message: “Free Philosophical Discussions, All are Welcome.” Almost one year later, Smolentsev has visited both the Santa Monica 3rd Street Promenade and the Venice Beach Boardwalk over 40 times with the purpose of continuing a philosophical dialogue with the city.“My whole motivation for [this] was a synthesis of Socrates and homeless people,” Smolentsev said. “Homeless people always have their signs and they always ask for something; it’s never just a genuine desire to talk. Socrates would go to the marketplace and just start harassing people about what virtue is.”Smolentsev walks the line of Socrates and street people, preferring to wait for those who truly wish to talk to reach out to him. While he is content to venture onto the Boardwalk alone, he encourages his friends to come with him.“He always wants to get as deep as possible as quickly as possible,” fellow philosopher Obin Sturm (’13) said. “It’s something few people try to do.”It is through these interactions, the debates and interrogations, that a mutual discovery of knowledge can be reached. Discussion topics are varied in nature; while some run in a similar vein to Socrates’ question on the nature of virtue, others are presented to Smolentsev by curious pedestrians. Topics that are normally considered taboo in discussion with strangers are immediately broached; it is not uncommon to overhear ruminations on the existence of God or the meaning of life“I like to take multiple perspectives; I don’t like to align myself to one belief,” Smolentsev said. “I have many different conceptions of God. You could say we’re all gods. We’re gods to the ants if we look from the ant’s perspective, and we’re ants looking up at something greater.”While some visiting philosophers begin the discussion with an agenda to prove their beliefs true, Smolentsev is on a constant quest to learn new ideas. A former altar boy at his Russian school, which was affiliated with the Eastern Orthodox Church, he is a current  Bible/Existential Literature student at Samo. This background has molded Smolentsev into the type of teenager who freely quotes Seneca and references the Old Testament in the same breath.Every day is marked by attempts to live philosophically and to share ideas with others. Smolentsev recently authored a book that serves as an analysis of high school. While it is currently being edited by Samo English teacher, Meredith Louria, it will be available for free on eBooks after completion. However, Smolentsev’s interest to share his thoughts is not limited to one form. Through questions and discussions with classmates, Smolentsev’s interest is seen as a defining characteristic by his teachers. In his Bible/Existential Literature class, Smolentsev goes by the name Anaximander, a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher known for attempting to observe and understand the universe.“He lives out in his name the qualities of the pre-Socratics,” Bible/Existential Literature teacher Berkeley Blatz said.Like the philosophers Smolentsev admires, he makes attempts to document his travels and thoughts. Accounts of these adventures are written in expedition logs, which chronicle the overall experience through his perception. In the logs, he writes in the third person, and calls himself a variety of titles that include “the philosopher” and “the man” and the adventures almost always begin with a bike ride. Indeed, his philosophical epiphanies often begin in this same manner.“On the bike, a lot of thoughts come. This whole idea of major and minor emotions came to me when I was riding on a bike,” Smolentsev said. “It’s so strange how those ideas come to you.  They just out of the blue come to be. I don’t know how that happens. Maybe its just all these little pieces come together and finally the puzzle is complete.”However, the path to completion is neither short nor simple. Along the way, he searches to expand and record his thoughts.One day, when Smolentsev was pulled into discussion with an older man and his son, he stopped to gesticulate for emphasis and evidence. He pulled from his backpack a homemade chart that illustrates the categories of humanity including father, student and artist and carefully explained it to the pair.As the older man followed the branching labels, he stopped to question Smolentsev on his family background, and marveled at Smolentsev’s father’s career as a researcher of nuclear fusion at UCLA before asking Smolentsev’s own categorization. Without hesitation, he was given a response: “Philosopher.” The old man chuckled, and blatantly disregarding the sign advertising a “Free Philosophical Discussion,” pressed $5 into Smolentsev’s hand. Calling out over his shoulder, he urged Smolentsev to pursue a career in science.“I’d rather be a philosopher,” Smolentsev said in final response, and watched the man push around a bluegrass band and disappear into the crowd.aabarbanel@thesamohi.com