Higher argument

[Mark Kohut]

Yes, good point.
 Which leads in an allusion we all know that that might depend on what is the claim of claiming. 

But, yes, if the echoing of Slothrop is a possible resonance, he went freely too and the higher argument came out of that. 
Lew hurried freely as if for cosmic reasons? 

Sent from my iPad

> On Nov 8, 2020, at 4:34 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Don’t forget the text says “as if,” implying not against his own will.
> 
> David Morris 
> 
>> On Sun, Nov 8, 2020 at 1:38 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>> A cosmological argument; a teleological argument; even that the higher argument is deterministic, his scurrying is not of his own free will. 
>> I get a kind of echo of Slothrop here, who scurried from place to place under a higher argument than he was aware of. 
>> 
>> Sent from my iPad
>> 
>> > On Nov 7, 2020, at 10:21 PM, Raphael Saltwood <PlainMrBotanyB at outlook.com> wrote:
>> > 
>> > From : Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
>> > 
>> > ________________________________
>> > 
>> > P233.1-4   As autumn deepened, Lew could be noticed hurrying from place to place, as if
>> > 
>> > increasingly claimed by a higher argument—
>> > 
>> > tensely vertical,
>> > favoring narrow black overcoats, slouch hats,
>> > 
>> > and serviceable boots, a
>> > trimmed black mustache settled in along his
>> > 
>> > upper lip.
>> > 
>> > In what sense is the word "argument" used here?
>> > 
>> > ——
>> > 
>> > Not aware of a particular trope it ties into (doesn’t mean there isn’t one)
>> > 
>> > “Argument” may just be a quick catch-all term for an interpretation of one’s experience -
>> > 
>> > The lawyer in court presents an argument, eg.
>> > 
>> > Life itself presents lower (on Maslow’s pyramid) arguments - “you must get food and shelter”
>> > But his wardrobe shows he has that.
>> > 
>> > “You must find a place in society” - but his hurry and freedom of movement suggests this is not a problem for him.
>> > 
>> > A higher argument might be “you must seek truth, insight, patterns”
>> > 
>> > If we posit that the observant Lew has tapped into political truths and Cyclomite-induced insights not evident to most, this is the argument he engages with, to the extent of finding patterns in the light and darkness of London’s streets, and messages in gas.
>> > 
>> > “Lew could be noticed” - by whom? Nookshaft’s recruiters, probably, working with Pythagorean and Tarot-inspired patterns, looking for kindred spirits.
>> > 
>> > 
>> > 
>> > 
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