Is There an Efficient Cause or Affect Effect?

"There are all these features of something being caused to exist within our empirical experience of the world that you actually have to sacrifice," he says. "So for example, when we see things beginning to exist ... it's by the interaction of an efficient cause with a material cause." He adds: "I think probably we could find counter examples even within the realm of our experience as to when we do have efficient causes operating without material causes"