from A Manual for Manuel, by Julio Cortázar

Naturally, the one I told you observes, in spite of such subjective obstructionism, the underlying theme is quite simple: (1) Reality exists or it doesn't exist, in any case it's incomprehensible in its essence, just as essences are incomprehensible in reality, and comprehension is another mirror for larks, and the lark is a birdy [pajarito], and a birdy is a diminutive of bird [pájaro], and the word [pájaro] has three syllables, and each syllable has two letters, and that's how reality can be said to exist (because larks and syllables) but it's incomprehensible, because, furthermore, what do we mean by mean, or, among other things, by saying that reality exists. (2) Reality may be incomprehensible, but it does exist, or at least it's something that happens to us or that each of us makes happen, so that a joy, an elemental necessity, makes us forget everything said (in 1), and on to (3). We've just accepted reality (in 2), whatsoever or howsoever, and consequently we accept our being installed in it, but right there we know that, absurd or false or trumped up, reality is a failure for man even though it may not be for the birdy, who flies without asking any questions and dies without knowing it. Therefore, inexorably, if we end up accepting what was said in (3), we have to pass on to (4). This reality, on the level of (3), is a fraud and we have to change it. Here we have a divergence, (5a) and (5b):

"Oof," says Marcos.

(5a) To change reality for me alone--the one I told you goes on--is something old and feasible: Meister Eckhart, Meister Zen, Meister Vedanta. To discover that the I is an illusion, to cultivate one's garden, be a saint, overtake the sacred prey, etc. No.

"You're getting there," says Marcos.

(5b) To change reality for everyone--the one I told you goes on--is to accept the fact that everyone is (ought to be) what I am, and, in some way, to meld the real with mankind. That means admitting history, that is, the human race on a false course, a reality accepted until now as real, and away we go. Consequence: there's only one duty and that's to find the true course. Method: revolution. Yes.