Afflatus (noun):a divine imparting of knowledge or power :inspiration

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/afflatus

This word was encounter in the article ” A Literary Visitor Strolls in From the Airport” by Charles McGrath which states “The afflatus of the city’s bowels– now we’re getting into the real body of the city “. This is located on the three page of the article, sixth paragraph, last sentence.

When I read the definition I was still off about what the word meant  so I decided to read other source to better understand it. With that made me understand what the author was trying to say in the sentence. What afflatus means is inspiration. Afflatus is a divine imparting of knowledge or power. So in others words what I got from the word is that people get the desire to do things in there own way to get noticed or seen.  I then tied it back to the sentence which was “The afflatus of the city’s bowels– now we’re getting into the real body of the city “. What this meant to me was that since New York usually shows big building, lights, stores , amazing foods, and a lot of people. When Mr.Self discovered the train it was like saying now we are getting to the real New York and not the New York that is showen to people.