Nothing is the complete absence of any being, (being is anything that exists: matter, energy, ideas, virtues, emotions). Nothing has no quality or quantity; no spirit, matter or idea; it cannot be measured or even thought of. The vastness of outer space is not nothing, because it can be measured, observed and described ― it has qualities. From this we see that something cannot arise from nothing; existence cannot be derived from non-existence.
CCC 297 speaks of creation from nothing. This is understood to mean that God creates upon a foundation of nothing, but nothing remains nothing. When God first created, God alone existed. God could not take preexisting matter or spirit (other than himself) to form into creation. God ‘donates’ his attributes to creation, forming creation in his own image around its own core of nothing. Creation is the detached attributes of Christ. Scripture often states that without God, man is nothing.