inchoate and vertiginous stuff

So we read "The Circular Ruins" by Borges for class. We've yet to discuss it but a particular passage leaped out at me:

He realized that the effort to model the inchoate and vertiginous stuff of which dreams are made is the most arduous task a man can undertake, though he get to the bottom of all the enigmas of a superior or inferior order: much more arduous than than to weave a rope of sand or mint coins of the faceless wind. He realized that an initial failure was inevitable. He vowed to forget the enormous hallucination by which he had been led astray at first, and he sought out another approach.

As often happens on those occasions when I try to read Borges I find myself thinking that I don't really have any idea what it means...but some of it moves me and stays with me. You can read the whole thing yourself here. Even if you're not a fan, it's short.