“The notion that there are some facts of existence that cannot be thought away reveals no intrinsic absurdity. The alternative to it is the supposition that there might very well have been nothing, which does not seem to be a deeply illuminating supposition. Certain eastern sages have simply opined that before there was anything there was nothing, and that all there is came out of this nothing: whatever can be said of this opinion, it cannot be said to fill the mind with a flood of light.” (Transcendence of the Cave, p. 86-87.)
“It is arguable that our inability to talk about the total absence of anything is merely a speaker-centric predicament, since there are always at least ourselves, our speech and the presuppositions of our speaking, but it is equally possible to regard this as an unwarrantable dogma.” (Transcendence of the Cave, p. 87.)