Like many others, I have been self-quarantining since late February. I am grateful to have a home in which I find myself generally at peace, even while the world at large seems to be in chaos. One of the recurring paradoxes of the pandemic is the gap between the noise and turmoil of the outside world as presented through both the news and the stories shared by individuals with the sameness of the world at home.

To compensate, I have been drawn to the world of the imagination and the mind. Literature, film and games have engrossed me. I have time and energy to get to those which I have put off. I have picked up the piano again, dabbled in painting and cooking.

Yet, I find the world of consumption pale and limiting. More than relieve boredom, I want to create. I find myself drawn not to just play my piano, but compose, to not just read but to write, to not just play games, but create them.

Somehow, this feels like the right time to plant a seed. When nature seems to be The Enemy, it seems right to affirm the power of creation. When the normal structure of life and society seems foggy and immaterial, the walls of thinking are also removed.

Marc Andreesen says that it’s Time to Build, which deeply mirrors my own feelings now. Wherever we go from here, we will need to create. We will need new coaliations, new ideas, new principles, new values. Perhaps we needed them already, but we certainly need them now.