"It's better to starve than to eat, that's horrible." Is it better to be alone? O. Khayyam is right?

For many millennia of the existence of people on earth, the universal culture has accumulated rich knowledge in the field of the peculiarities of relations between members of society. As one of the Eastern wise men said, "It's better to starve than to eat, that's horrible," it's better to be alone than to communicate with the unworthy.

Consider today this very aphorism, and the fate of its author.

Who said these words?

The words "It's better to starve than there is, that's horrible," "it's better to be alone than among unequal people" belong to the pen of the famous Eastern poet Omar Khayyam.

He came from Persia, he lived about a thousand years ago, glorified himself as a famous mathematician and an astronomer. Throughout his life, Omar Khayyam wrote short quatrains, which were called rubai.

In these verses he expressed his philosophy of life. As a poet of Muslim culture, he did not share a part of the doctrinal provisions of this religion: he was skeptical about the divine plan of Allah, was indulging in pessimism, watching in front of himself examples of injustice and vice.

Philosophy of the Eastern poet

In his life position, he is likely close to Renaissance figures who also tried with their whole lives to prove the human right to build their own destiny and change the world around them.

Strictly speaking, Omar Khayyam's poems received a kind of "second birth" in the Western world, when the last century they were translated into English by one of the western poets. Thanks to interest in the personality of the distant Persian author, his mathematical and astronomical achievements were rediscovered, that is why today the name of this person is known to any educated lover of literature.

"It's better to starve than to eat, that's horrible": better, it turns out, to one? What does this phrase mean?

The little ruby of O. Khayyam, which indicates that you need to carefully choose your circle of friends, has become a matter of controversy for a long time. After all, man is a social being, he lives in communication with his own kind, so often loneliness is unbearable for him.

Why does the poet of antiquity offer solitude as the saving island of rest for each of us?

We will try to answer this question.

Let us note that this poem (as the work of a true philosopher) contains a logical dilemma: "to be with someone horrible" or "to be alone" (we quote the last line of the poem: "Better be one than with anyone").

Certainly, the alternative is worthy: how to communicate with those who will never understand and appreciate you, is it better to stay in silence and meditation? After all, this option will be the best for all, is not it?

Sometimes O. Khayyam is accused of excessive arrogance, because his phrase: "It's better not to starve, than to eat, what's horrible", better than anyone does. What? Does the poet urge us to refrain from food?

No, he most likely teaches us about the intelligibility in food (which in general is very relevant for us, people of the 21st century). It is better to starve than to eat foods with GMOs, it is better to refrain from food than to eat goods from McDonald's.

In food and in the choice of friends you need to be picky, then you will not be waiting for serious illnesses and people who are near you will not betray in a difficult moment.

Still, the poet is right. And this is wisdom coming from the depths of the ages.

How urgent is Eastern wisdom today?

Wise quotes and aphorisms are always relevant - and 1000 years ago, and today, in this age of computer technology. The person remains a person, therefore, the quiet rubbies of O. Khayyam will always find their reader. And in our time, when short statements are perceived much better than the multivolume works of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, even more so.

So read the immortal Persian poet and enjoy his works! And most importantly - look for yourself a circle of true friends who would understand and appreciate you!