“Now I have something to say here. I do not know whether or not what I have to say is of the same category as “this.” But, whether it is of the same category or not, like them it is a category, thus in the end it is no different from “that.” Nevertheless, let me try to explain myself.

There is beginning. There is a time before beginning. There is a time before the time before beginning. There is being. There is nonbeing. There is a stage before nonbeing. There is a stage before the stage before nonbeing. Still, as for being and nonbeing, I do not know which is really being and which is nonbeing. Now I have just said something, but I do not know whether what I have said is really saying something or not.”

[from Ch 2.8 of the Chuang Tzu, 1st century B.C.E.]