Some time in the next few days, I’ll become a father again, and it’s got me thinking about the nature of creativity.

The universe is an inherently entropic system. Whether it eventually collapses back into the singularity from which it emerged, or expands continuously until the very atoms that comprise matter rip themselves apart, this universe will end. Perhaps it is a cyclical event, and a new one will appear in its place, but that is academic. This universe, this time, this place in which I find myself… It will not be in any meaningful sense a part of whatever comes after.

Creativity, to me, is the act of striving against this eventuality. Making order out of chaos, whether it’s the chaos of ideas that fills my head and becomes my stories, or the chaos of matter sloshing against matter that becomes my children. Doing, building, giving form and shape… these are anti-entropic acts.

I find that amazing. What an astonishing turn of events, that an assortment of atoms came together and became adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine, which in turn produced my ancestors and, eventually, me. And that I, in my small way, can resist entropy, can make some tiny portion of the universe go the other way. I can create.

What an opportunity!