Buddhist View of Creation?

 When I am in class, am I really doing something or contributing to society? I thought about this tonight on the way home, and I am afraid that answer that I came up with is that I am not doing very much. Taking a class is one thing, but then I think about all the sentient beings who made that class what it is, and I realize that my contribution is just one minor piece in a very large puzzle. In that sense, I need to revise my understanding of what it means to 'meaningfully contribute' to such a collective.
   In Buddhism, there isn't very much about an original creator. We were talking today about the Abidharma school, and how it suggests that there are 'dharmas' that form the basis of all things, in much the same way that particles form wholes according to the modern theory of atomic physics. Madhyamika school shattered this idea by suggesting that these individual particles could be infinitely divided, since everything exists only as a relationship to something else. In that sense, the notion that there is some underlying substance that 'creates' or forms the universe starts to become quite suspect. So, I wonder how the notion of emptiness in Buddhism relates to the act of creation (particularly one's creative contributions to society) when in fact there is no sole creator or originator in anything?
   I think that of course, all of this challenges and perhaps even shatters the notion that anything can exist in isolation. And, contrary to the annihilationists who suggest that nothing exists at all, one must have some faith that their way of contributing to the world is useful and valuable. Otherwise, a person might not have the heart to continue. In fact, it seems imperative that people contribute as a way of awakening their inherent caring abilities. But here again, one must believe and have faith that one has such an ability already built into them. This is where I believe that the Buddhist faith becomes very crucial.
   Without faith in one's own compassionate nature, it's hard to sustain creative effort in a world that is seeming less and less permanent, and is accelerating at a huge pace. But it's important not to lose heart and to always feel that even being present somewhere can have a good impact on someone else. I am hoping to be able to design exercises and techniques that will help others (and myself) to cultivate sustainable efforts in compassion, especially through journal writing and an emphasis on gratitude. I am not sure how it will work, but it's a work in progress. Even when I don't feel that it will make much of a difference, in my heart I believe that it will help me a lot to be more optimistic and uplifted. I think that must count for something in this vast universe, even if it is quite small in the end.