About the Book
Omar Khayyam's Secret: Hermeneutics of the Robaiyat in Quantum Sociological Imagination, by Mohammad H. Tamdgidi, is a 12-book series of which this book is the 10th volume, subtitled Khayyami Robaiyat: Part 3 of 3: Quatrains 686-1000: Songs of Joy Addressing the Question "Why Can Happiness Exist?" Explained with New English Verse Translations and Organized Logically Following Omar Khayyam's Own Three-Phased Method of Inquiry. Each book, independently readable, can be best understood as a part of the whole series.
In Book 10, Tamdgidi offers the third of a three-part set of 1000 quatrains he has chosen to include in this series from a wider set that have been over the centuries attributed to Khayyam. Part 3 includes quatrains 686-1000 for each of which the Persian original along with Tamdgidi's new English verse translation and a transliteration for the same are shared. Each quatrain is indexed according to the frequency of its inclusion in manuscripts, the earliest known date of its appearance in them, the extent to which it has "wandered" into other poets' works, and its rhyming scheme. Brief comments about the meaning of each quatrain in relation to other quatrains and works attributed to Khayyam are then offered along with any notes regarding its new translation as shared.
Tamdgidi shows that the quatrains 686-1000 address the question "Why Does (or Can) Happiness Exist?" The question is the third of a set of three methodically phased questions Khayyam has identified in his philosophical works as being required for investigating any subject. The order in which the quatrains are presented shows that the quatrains included in Part 3 continue the logically deductive reasoning process started in Part 2, but serve as practical examples of how humankind can turn the activity of poetry writing itself as a source of joy in life when confronting the topics of death, survival, and spiritual fulfillment. The thematic topics of the quatrains of Part 3 as shared in Book 10 are: XVIII. Garden; XIX. Wine; XX. Love; XXI. Night; XXII. Death and Survival; XXIII. Liberation; and XXIV. Return.
Khayyam's overall sentiment in pursuing the inquiry in the third part of his book of poetry is expressive of joy. He begins by showing, using the example of his own poetry, how strolling in a garden offers opportunities to enjoy it even when writing about the transient nature of the roses and greens. He then offers in the longest section of his book a set of quatrains in praise of Wine, disguising therein a praise of the joy of writing his own poetry, Wine's metaphorical double-meanings offering chances in the here-and-now of stealing joyfulness even when mistreated by his foes and amid feelings of helplessness in confronting physical death. He then turns to the topic of spiritual Love, signifying the role the sentiment of Love in search of the Source of creation plays in the evolutionary process of the succession order of the created existence as discussed in his writings.
He continues to the topic of death and the possibility of lasting spiritual survival and existence by practically encouraging the Drinkers of the Wine of his poetry itself to help bring about that end. He ends the Wine of his poetry by expressing how it has helped free himself from the prior (in Part 1) doubtfully expressed inevitability of physical death in favor of not just hopefulness (in Part 2) but the certainty of having initiated a lasting spiritual existence by way of the bittersweet Wine of his poetry itself, celebrating a return to the spiritual Source of all existence as woven into the 1000-threaded wick of the candle of his Love for God. We should therefore judge each step of the third part of Khayyam's poetic inquiry in consideration of the two other parts of his book of poetry, those already shared in Books 8 and 9 addressing the questions "Does Happiness Exist?" and "What Is Happiness?"
About the Author :
Mohammad H. Tamdgidi, Ph.D., is the founding director and editor of OKCIR: Omar Khayyam Center for Integrative Research in Utopia, Mysticism, and Science (Utopystics) and its journal, Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge (ISSN: 1540-5699), which have served since 2002 to frame his independent research, pedagogical, and publishing initiatives. Besides his currently in progress work published in the 12-book series Omar Khayyam's Secret: Hermeneutics of the Robaiyat in Quantum Sociological Imagination (Okcir Press), he has previously authored Liberating Sociology: From Newtonian Toward Quantum Imaginations: Volume 1: Unriddling the Quantum Enigma (Okcir Press), Advancing Utopistics: The Three Component Parts and Errors of Marxism (Routledge/Paradigm) and Gurdjieff and Hypnosis: A Hermeneutic Study (Palgrave Macmillan). Tamdgidi has published numerous peer reviewed articles and chapters and edited more than thirty journal issues. He is a former associate professor of sociology specializing in social theory at UMass Boston and has taught sociology at SUNY-Binghamton and SUNY-Oneonta.
Review :
"... a masterpiece in Omar Khayyam studies ..." -- Jafar Aghayani Chavoshi (Ph.D., University of Paris, 1997), Professor of Philosophy of Science at Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, specializing in Philosophy, Epistemology, and History of Mathematics and Science, and in Omar Khayyam Studies; From his Foreword to the last book of the Omar Khayyam's Secret series
"At the cultural level, Tamdgidi has brought to bear in his Omar Khayyam's Secret series his historical and linguistic gifts, translating and transliterating Khayyam's original works from Arabic, Persian, or both into English. ... The nature and purposes of the Robaiyat -- and here, Tamdgidi's offering of a translated tri-partite and then, integrated, version of this poem (this epic) is of utmost importance -- especially allow for readers' interpretations which will be part of that thousand years (earlier referred to) discussion and interpretation. ... Fate and chance, dealt with throughout the series, including the autobiographical Robaiyat, are part of that which Khayyam saw as elements of our pilgrimage in life. Even in face of existential danger, however, we must summon the will or courage to act (and we hear Nietzsche's applause here), knowing, as Alexander Pope -- a spiritual kin of Khayyam -- reminds us, that all of nature is art often unknown to us, with chance observing directions we do not immediately see. ... It was not written for Iran but for the world (hence the reactions of the world to FitzGerald's work), not for a partial time, but for all times; not as poetry, only, but as an attempted integration of all his learning about humans (at the individual and species level), and the universe. The epic also serves as a meditation chamber, a dialogic laboratory, a riddle, within a puzzle, within an enigma to teach us about perplexity (above and beyond the personal need for secrecy), and the wine which lies behind hidden, committed involvement in journeys that are not single experiences of the intellect, but the entire symphony of feelings, emotions, passions that constitute the mixture of human possibilities." -- Winston E. Langley, Professor Emeritus of Political Science & International Relations, Senior Fellow at the McCormack Graduate School for Policy & Global Studies, and a former Provost (2008-2017) of the University of Massachusetts Boston; From his Foreword to the last book of the Omar Khayyam's Secret series
