It's the End of the World as We Know It (but Do You Feel Fine)?

I recently completed a book called The End of the World as You Know It by Matthew L. Halstead.  (It is the first of a number of books I'm reading, with the goal of reading at least four books this year.)  I like weird topics and I like to read weird books about weird topics.  Or at least topics that people don't seem to touch on a whole lot. As the book may imply, this is a book of eschatology.  And for those who don't know what "eschatology" means, it is the study or the topic about the end of the world.  I like to give a short summary of the book, but I also like to give my own personal views of the end of the world. 

I think in the Western culture, and at least the past century, there is a growing belief that Christians will be sucked into heaven.  There is also a debate when tribulation will start, when Christians will be taken to heaven, and when Jesus will return.  There is also a lot of discussions on the prophecies surrounding Jesus second coming and what leads up to these "predictions".

The book largely debunks all of them, and I think I also largely believe in a lot of what the author is writing even before I read this book.  Rather than writing a long blog, I rather do a bulletpoint summary of the book (and the summary is not in any particular order):

• Many folks today think Revelations is written to them.  Although, the Bible is written for a lot of people past and present, the main audience that Revelations was written to are the seven churches mentioned in the beginning of Revelations.  (Emphasizing "to", as Revelations is a letter written to different churches, much like Paul's letters to different churches.)
• Revelation is not only a letter, but also prophetic and apocalyptic.  But prophetic is not what we think.  It's not necessarily a prediction of the future but rather a declaration.  Same thing with the term apocalyptic: just a declaration.
• The "last days" written in much of the New Testament was referring to the time period of the 1st century Christians.  The first century Christians were under a lot of persecution, and they honestly thought they were living the last days of Christ.  The book of Revelations was written to comfort those who want to know when Jesus will return.  And as weird as Revelations might be to us 21st century folks, it wasn't weird to the 1st century Christians.
• Revelations was written such that the first century Christian understood its meaning.  Which is a bit bizarre to me but that's what this guy says.  The seven churches mentioned in the book of Revelations are real churches at the time.  The beast stood for Nero, the seven heads of the Beast were the seven mountains/hills of Rome, and so on.  It wasn't anything strange to the 1st century Christians.  I compare this much like our political cartoons of our time. There may be a lot of symbolism but it means something of our time.  
• Sorry, Christians won't get sucked into heaven.  Rather, Jesus will bring heaven down to earth.  In other words, Jesus will make earth a new earth, and it will be heaven.  Not some cloud in the sky.
• And about Jesus coming down from heaven.  It's going to be like a grand entrance.  Maybe he'll ride on a cloud.
• Tribulations is not going to start at some distance future.  It's already happening now.  Which means, this "seven years" is figurative.  
• The Beast mentioned in Revelation is/are just agents doing Satans work.  The Antichrist is not really one person but could be many people.  We really don't know.
• The mark of the Beast is whatever you want to believe it is.  It's just numbers where modern Christians want you to think it's evil.  Metaphorical, 666 does signify an imperfection but it's just numbers and does not necessarily spell doom.  But then Christians use the mark of righteousness, which is the Lamb of God, Jesus.  
• Jesus is the beginning and the end.  The Alpha and the Omega.  And Jesus not only is the end, he sums up the entire history of earth.  When Jesus came in human form the first time, it was the beginning of the end.  The end is not so much the event but it is the person, which is Jesus.  And yet, as it is stated in Matthew 24, we truly do not know the time or hour that Christ will return.
• Jesus is also the Third Temple and we are part of it already.  Many folks believe there will be a physical third Temple to be built in Jerusalem and it could very well possibly be built but I can't help but think that Jesus has already built a spiritual temple already for us.

My brutally honest opinion is that this book could be written more as a two or three part essay.  The author repeated himself or gone around circles on certain topics, which I think could have been shorten or at least eliminate the duplicate parts and sentences.  I largely believe this guy to a certain extent.  Here's my thoughts on end times (also in bullet points):

• As a person who majored in Mechanical Engineering (where we have to study thermodynamics and which is one of the foundation of studying about astronomy and astrophysics), I can't help but believed that our Earth will someday be consumed by the sun as a giant red star.  There is an imagery of "firey lakes" in the Bible and I truly believe that those who are left on Earth will see this.  The sun as a red giant star is the firey lake.  Although, by man's calculations, it will be in another 4 billion years and maybe we as species won't be here but if any intelligent life is left on Earth, well, the firey lake is coming at you.
• I really do think Jesus will come back but not in a way we think.  If we look at studies on space travel, it is quite possible that anyone who can travel at the light speed could go to space and come back in thousands of years and barely aged at all.  Maybe like the transporters on Star Trek, Jesus was "beamed up" to a space shuttle or became some kind of space dust to travel at the near speed of light.  
• As mentioned before, Jesus is the Third Temple.  It's being built and already built.  Maybe it's the space dust we're going to be a part of again.  There is a verse that I now find somewhat peculiar, is when Jesus says the Lord's prayer, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be the name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  Whatever his "will" is done on earth, it is done in "heaven" as well.  Heaven itself can be loosely translated to "sky" or the "expanse" as explained in Genesis, or our known universe, not an actual place we think of, with angels with wings flying around with little hand held harps.  It could very well be space dust or even the new study of dark matter and dark energy, and whatever force it uses to expand the universe faster than light speed.
• Tribulations is now, but I think our hardships run in cycles.  There is a time of peace and there are times of war, and it's been a cycle of this throughout human history.  We may come to a time of peace again but with the way our technology is advancing, it's hard to ignore the speed of which our news circulate around the world, so we could be coming to a world of peace but not without a long time of hardships.
• A.I., robots, and androids.  It could very well be that our consciousness is uploaded to become a singularity and that could be our heaven.  Sounds kind of like the Matrix, right?  But if humans are ethical about this, robots taking over the world may not happen.
• The Universe could end in a few different ways.  It could go into a complete heat death where everything will stop moving, it could expand forever, it could self-implode and explode again, or our universe could be spawning new parallel universes and there could be multi-verses already.  But however the Universe ends, I hope I will become space dust.  From dust we came to dust we will return...

The Church of Jesus

Intro

For a good part of 2023 a few burning questions I had in the back of my mind:

• Why Jesus?
• Why did Jesus come when he did, in the middle of the Roman Empire?
• What is church?

I think many times, people talk about Paul's ministry and letters to the different fellowships of different cities.  Paul often instructed these different groups of people on how to conduct their meetings, rebuke them of their wrongs, but also encourage them of things they are doing right.  (And I'm being careful by calling these groups just fellowships because the English word "church" didn't appear until the 14th or 16th century [whichever source you may have found], and the word "ekklesia" was used by the Greek Christians and a work that was probably borrowed from the Greek.) 

But what was Jesus' true purpose for God's people?  Why did he come at this moment in earth's history? 

Jesus never meant to start a religion.  Yet his teachings have sprung a movement that is still going on until today.  What men strived to organize to be the church, some of these organizations has become legalistic institutes that have been divided into denominations and sects, just like the Jewish leaders of the time of Jesus.

The Life of Jesus in a Nutshell 

Let's start with Jesus, as everything starts with Jesus.  Jesus was born to a young couple, Joseph and Mary.  Jesus was born from a virgin woman.  It was thought that Joseph was a carpenter, so Jesus was also a carpenter with his earthly father.  After his miraculous birth, not much is known about his childhood except an account when he was about 10 or 12, he stayed at a temple (Luke 2:41-52).  We then fast forward to around the time he was maybe late 20's or 30 years old where his ministry began.  During his ministry, he gathered twelve men to be his disciples.  Even though he was always surrounded by people, his tightest group is these twelve men. 

And an important thing to point out: Jesus is/was single.  Not much is known if he ever had a girlfriend or a lady he courted or if he was ever married.  But just from reading scripture, all we know is that he's a single dude. 

The Environment of the Time of Jesus 

(A disclaimer before I move forward: I'm not historian and I am not a Bible scholar.  But how I'm going present this part of history is my personally understanding and may not be fully accurate.) 

Between the time of the book of Malachi in the Old Testament and the time of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), a lot of history happened, and by the time of the Gospels, the Romans were ruling much of the known world, including Israel.  I am not sure how credible this website is regarding the history of the Roman Empire in biblical times, but this pretty much summed up the history in a very broad sense.  The Romans, for the most part, left the Jewish leaders to rule themselves and over the common people.  It is a common misconception, at least in my own reading of the Gospels, that the Romans were the ones persecuting the Jews, but it's quite the opposite.  I believe what caused the most problem amongst the Jews are the Jewish leaders themselves.  There is probably no doubt that because the Romans left the Jews to rule themselves, as long as taxes were paid to Caesar, the Jewish leaders abused their powers and exploited the common people in Israel.  The Romans, in maintaining their "Pax Romana", taxed heavily and entrust this task to the Jewish leaders to enforce this heavy tax.  Not only that, the common people also have to tithe to their Jewish synagogues and priests, which they themselves have been known to be greedy and judgmental. 

Another aspect of this area of Israel is that it is a crossroads of many countries and cultures of their known world.  Europe and Rome had a much different culture than the Jews and the Middle East.  There might have been some knowledge of the far east (China, Korea, Japan, and other Asian nations), but from reading the Gospels, this was not evident.  Definitely, they did not know anything about the Americas but there were people there at the time. 

His Teachings and The Greatest Commandments 

Many of us who have read the gospels of Jesus may remember him turning water into wine (his first miracle), feeding the 5000, walking on water, healing the lepers, asking Zaccheus to come down from a tree, the Sermon on the Mount, inviting Matthew for dinner, and many other parables and miracles.  There were certain times he asks certain people to keep quiet, and other times, he asked them to go ahead and preach the good news. 

Each parable and lessons are presented around a different scenario in which we learn from depending on the situation and based on his audience.  But the ultimate lesson Jesus gave was the Greatest Commandments: love God and love people.  If you know Old Testament, the first part of the Great Commandments comes from Deuteronomy 6:4-5: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.  The second part of the Great Commandments is often called "The Golden Rule" and variations of this can be found in most other cultures and religions.  (Could it be that the Golden Rule and many other of his teachings were borrowed from other neighboring cultures?  That will be another blog for another day.)

Why Jesus? 

Why Jesus?  Why did God send Jesus?  Why hasn't God sent anyone else?  Going back into Genesis, God chose Abraham to be the father of the Jewish people and Jesus came through this lineage.  This was written in Matthew as well as Luke, although both traced their lineage somewhat differently.  God could very well choose the Buddha or Lao Tze or the Dahli Lama.  But God chose Jesus to be amongst a race of people who they themselves are sinful.  There was something about these people, that God created and chose to tell the story of Jesus.

I think there are a lot of things you can believe about in Jesus.  He is the Son of God and the Son of Man.  He is the Almighty.  He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.  He has died for our sins and was resurrected from the dead.  He also ascended to heaven.  In the book of John, it is written that Jesus is the Word of God.  A message.  An authority.  He was there in the beginning of creation.  However, even if you strip away even the physical words of Scripture, you get the essence and spirit that Jesus was one of the last, if not the last, figure in Earth's history that he must be a final summary to our search for an answer to our universe.  He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

What is the church of Jesus?

If you ignore all the other writings in New Testament from after the book of Acts, and just focus on Jesus and his ministry, I think church could be a very different thing.  You see, Jesus surrounded himself with only a small group of men, and maybe with some additional assistance along the way.  Women also played an important role in his ministry.  Mary Magdalene, Phoebe, Priscilla, the Samaritan woman, the woman who was about to be stoned, to name a few.  There was also Jesus's mother Mary.  Without her, there wouldn't be a vessel which Jesus came into the world.  This is such an important aspect of Jesus.  Not only is he the Son of God but he's the Son of Man (of the lineage of Adam).  Where Eve came out of Adam, Jesus came out from Mary, a woman.  But besides the 12 disciples and a few others along the way, that was it.  No pastor, no deacons, no elders, and no hierarchy of leadership.   

Going to the book of Acts, we see that many early believers of Jesus often just gather together, breaking of bread, pray, sing and share with each other in their resources.  There are some churches that based their small groups around the passages in Acts 2:42. Many home or house churches have modeled their gathering based on this passage of Scripture.

Jesus never taught how people should organize themselves in the church.  There were no men and women ministry, or children's ministry, or a committee to vote on how to spend on the new fellowship hall, or how to put together a potluck.  Rather, he taught and shown the people of the time how to be better humans and how you should care for those who are poor, needy, sick, widowed, and who are different like the Gentiles and Samaritans.  But he also shows no partiality towards the leaders as he included those like Matthew, the tax collector, into his circle.  Jesus knew of the social inequality of the people of Israel created by organized religion and how religious leaders can exploit the common people if a government allows for such things to happen.  He knew that organized religion could be detrimental and damaging to the people of the Jews.

I think the Jews at the time had organize their leadership in a hierarchal fashion (again, I'm not a historian, so I need to fact check this but this is purely from speculation and observation of reading the Bible).  If you go back to the time of the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth and the first part of 1st Samuel, you will find that the Israelite tribes were govern by judges and priest.  It wasn't until 1st Samuel 8 that the Hebrews asked for a king, like the kings of the surrounding nations around Israel.  When Paul wrote to the different fellowships in these different cities in the New Testament, often times the newly converted Christians will continue to operate the way they did in these types of leadership pecking order (because they didn't know better).  And to those who are Gentiles, they too copied whatever the Jews did.  So, Paul wrote his letters with this in mind on how to behave and conduct their fellowships and based on his own experience as a former Jewish leader. 

So, what does that mean for all of us?  I'm not saying leave your church and go create your own church. (I mean, you can, if you felt lead.)  I think if you felt lead by God to stay where you all, by all means, stay.  But I think Jesus spoke of a different church and that the church is the people who believed in him.  God and Jesus wants us to connect with each others, share in our resources, our faith and our lives.  Jesus doesn't just wants us to share the Gospel but to really share the Gospel of his Great Commandments by living it out daily.  And that, to me, I believe is what Jesus was striving for.  He could care less if there was another building built or how you organize yourselves or how your budget is doing or how many ministries and committees you have.  Jesus just cares about your heart and he gave up his life for it.  And I’m not just saying that to be cliché but having been through deconstruction, I am finally learning what being the church should really mean.  And finding that connection with people in the love of Christ should bring some meaning in you lives.

The one key difference in Christian living compared to other religions is that we do the things we do because Jesus did it first out of his love, and not to do things to earn anybody's favor or the favor of any other gods.  Even if you don't believe in Jesus resurrection and that he will come back again, at least know he was sent from God to share with us how to be kind and loving humans.  

My Food Journey

A food pyramid that shows vegetables and fruits on the bottom, and which should be consumed the most per day, as opposed to earlier food pyramids showing grains on the bottom.

Going on a "diet" has been interesting this time. I've mentioned it a few weeks ago and thought I would share some of my experiences this time compared to two years ago. This program I went on is called a "Metobolic Reset", where I have to pretty much go on a paleo-ish diet and eat on a strict schedule. High in protein (40 grams of protein per meal) and good fats are encouraged, no fruits high on the glycemic index and no sugars, natural sugars, or artificial sweeteners, no grains and no legumes (beans). I also had to take supplements and consume a ketone shake during my "fasting" period. Of course, paleo doesn't allow dairy (cavemen don't know how to milk cows yet). I lost 5 pounds but more importantly, I do not have much of a brain fog, my joints feels a lot better, I don't have as much bloating, and I have more energy.

The science behind it. When you (literally) starve your body from certain types of carbohydrates, some simple carbohydrates, such as sugar, are not available as an energy source. So your body resorts to burning stored fat through the process of ketosis.

After 30 days, and when I went back on some of these carbohydrates, I could tell right away that something was strange. I just don't feel good. A few things I noted:

• Sugar makes me bloated.  I read that if the sugar sits in our intestines long enough, it starts to ferment and cause gases in your intestines.  Interesting.
• Cheese makes me constipated.  Well, I knew that already but who doesn't like cheese?
• Commercial salad dressing makes me literally sick.  I went to the office one day and brought salad and forgotten my special salad dressing.  So I used whatever is in the office's fridge and wow, I just feel so sick.  I know it's more expensive but I'm sticking to organic salad dressing.
• Anything high in salt content + wheat products.  Retains water and makes me heavier the next day.

The meal plan I went on two years ago was very restrictive.  It was called "Sprint Set".  It was high in vegetables but low to moderate on protein.  I mean, how does one consume 10 oz of salad?  That is nearly 5 to 6 cups of lettuce!  Plus, I felt I was literally starving the whole time.  My body went through the same process as compared to what I did this year, but it was not as sustainable on the long run.  I lost weight much faster in a short period of time, but when I introduced some foods back into my diet, my weight went straight back to where I started and then some.

The Metabolic Reset is more realistic.  Even though at first, I felt like I was starving, having enough proteins helps with that and eventually, I got used to it.  They have a strong emphasis on eating proteins (just like paleo) but they also want to make sure you get enough vegetables.  The point in eating more protein is filling satiated.  When I went on Sprint Set, I never felt full, so once it was done, I went back to gorging on different carbs.  On the Metabolic Reset, I was almost full but I can deal with that 90% feeling.

Both of these programs were through my chiropractor.  They have a scale called the Tanita scale that not only measures your weight but also body fat.  Comparing the results from 2 years ago to this year, I actually lost more fat this year than from the program two years ago.  I think what my body is doing 2 years ago is that it was fighting to keep fat instead of losing it and I also end up losing muscle mass because of the low protein consumption.  On this year's program, I was using protein and good fat to burn fat.  Fight fire with fire, they say.  The protein was there to maintain my muscle mass while I burn fat.  

Only time will tell if I maintain this type of eating habit.  I think being human, I do crave fried foods, comfort foods, and things high in carbs.  But knowing that these foods will make me feel ill, and knowing that my body is a lot different than 10 to 20 years ago, it has given me some pause on what kind of foods I'm eating, what foods I've eaten in the past and how it's affecting me today.  Of course, this diet is not for all, especially those with a high metabolism.  I was thinking in a later blog, I can go into my thoughts on our health, immune system, and diseases.

Faith Reset 2024

It's been a little over two months since I posted something on the blog.  Not intentional but going through the holidays, working a lot, and still continuing to write my long blog has kept me busy.

Just like every year, I often spend some time remembering what I did the previous year and what kind of goals I should accomplished this year.  And even though I felt I haven't done much last year, I may have done more than I thought.  So, I guess I'll offer a summary here and list some goals for this year.

Before the pandemic, I felt that I really had to be extra social to get anywhere.  I was doing all the things, literally.  But during the pandemic, it made me realize how much of an introvert I am.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  I do get exhausted being around a lot of people at times, and I now enjoy just being by myself most times.  I am not exactly alone or don't feel that way.  I do go out with friends once in a while.

Which leads me to bring up a group that I joined on Facebook in March 2023.  A friend of mine invited me into this group The Grownup's Table (Community for Single Christians).  I was a bit skeptical at first, because (1) I always think joining any kind of group on Facebook is a risk and (2) stranger danger and (3) it was a singles group, so I felt maybe I'm joining some kind of meat market.  But I joined and to my surprise, everybody I've met so far has been friendly.  In kind of a weird way, I feel like it's my online church.  I never would have thought of joining a fellowship that is not a part of a church.

Speaking of church, I think one of the biggest things I went through the last several years is a spiritual deconstructions.  I wrote about it some last year (Part 1 and Part 2) and it was when it really hit me that what I have been doing and what I truly believe doesn't really match up and align.  September 2023, I left the church I was a part of for four years and kind of started going back to Mosaic Church (Charlotte).  I have been to Mosaic before and was with Mosaic for about 5 years before moving onto another church.  Compare to some of the other churches I've been to, it's somewhat progressive but still has solid Christian beliefs.  And thinking back through the many churches I've been to, somehow this season of life, Mosaic and their practices makes sense to me.  I think this year would be a faith reset and redefining what I believe.  I still believe in Christ and his teachings, but beyond that, I am not sure where to go from here.  I think I'll park where I am right now and I think in time, my path will be clearer.

I went to London!  That was exciting.  I went with a friend and spent a week there. It was a lovely trip and I would like to go back at some point.

I keep saying my dad is doing fine but I something think he's not.  I know at time he feels frustrated maybe depressed that he can't see well.  It sort of robs you of your freedom.  And I really do wish and hope he finds some kind of joy that I am taking care of him.  This part, being a caregiver, is kind of tiring at times but it's not so bad if you get yourself organized.  I kind of feel bad sometimes if I leave him home by himself (with my dog Camellia), but I think he actually likes being by himself.  Sort of like me, he's kind of an introvert.  

My dog, she's a hoot.  I think in her older age, she has gotten lazier or just very easily spooked by something on the greenway.  There is a particular greenway called Clark's Greenway that I really enjoy but the last several months, she's been spooked by something.  So, we haven't been to the Clark's Greenway for a while.  But that gave me more opportunities to explore other ones that I don't go to as much.  

I guess those are the biggest events and things from last year.  I don't believe in resolutions, but I do believe we need to set some goals and things to accomplished this year.  I don't have much but I will list a few.

Reading books (yes I read books): I actually don't always like to read as I read a lot at work already.  But one book I enjoyed last year was Being God's Image by Dr. Carmen Joy Imes.  It was a book mainly about what it means to be God's image and it showed me that there are folks out there that think very similarly to how I think when it comes to this topic.  I may blog about it to give it some more content of what I'm talking about.  I actually heard about this book from my friend JM Smith (who by the way started The Grownup's Table Facebook group) through his YouTube channel called Disciple Dojo, and I think it was from his short series about Genesis 1 where he mentioned about this book in one of his videos.  This year, I want to read at least 4 books, and any books are fine.  There is one particular book I have on order called It's the End of the World as You Know It  by Matthew L. Halsted and it talks about eschatology stuff.  I'm kind of excited because I like to read about weird Christian stuff.  I think when I ordered, it was still at the printing press, but I should be getting the book soon from Amazon.  I have another book that is also on my list called House of Caravans which was written by my college friend Shilpi Suneja.   I already have the book, so I just need to find the time to read it. 

Writing: I'm going to jump back into writing blogs.  It is therapeutic to me.  I had a goal last year of at least two per month but as you can see from looking back, I had some months where I only had one but one month I wrote five blogs.  I guess it's just however my brain is flowing that month.  In total last year, I wrote 24 blogs, which actually does average to two blogs per month.

Travels: This is mandatory but going to Hong Kong in September for my cousin's wedding.  I haven't been in four years and I don't particularly know if I'm excited or frightful.  There's been a lot going on in Hong Kong over the past four years on top of the pandemic mess we've all been going through.  I think this pandemic has crippled Hong Kong in a lot of ways.  Economically, politically, socially.  So, it would be interesting how my family really handled it.  I only see a few things via social media and our cousins group chat on WhatsApp.  I may be going on a work trip in June but that is TBD for now.

Activities and Health : I hope to start jogging again and participate in a 5K.  And also go hiking but I haven't done either.  That was a goal I had last year but it never happened.  So, I think it's just time to get off my lazy a$$ and just get it done. 😁  Also, I participated on a "diet" through my chiropractor called "Metabolic Reset", where I had to eat a keto/paleo diet (mainly, no dairy, sugars, sweeteners, natural sweeteners like honey or maple syrup, and some fruit), and take supplements.  I feel fine and better as my joints are not as sore and I don't have much of a brain fog.  I lost about 5 pounds in the month of January.  The last few days, I have introduced a few things back into my diet and I already felt sick.  I think it's the hidden salt and sugars in some of the foods I tried.  So I am going to back off.  I have a goal to continue my "diet" and with some cheat meals here and there.  I hope to lose maybe another 5 to 10 pounds before my trip to Hong Kong.

Spiritual: I hope to continue to unravel my brain and discover more things about Christ that I haven't thought of before.  It's sort of exciting to explore this realm of things and think beyond Scripture without feeling you have boundaries.  Because when I was stuck in the rut I was in, I felt I was trapped and finding the key to unlock the box, I now realize what Christ and the Bible is really trying to say about our universe around us.  It's fascinating stuff and I hope to write more about it as the year progressing.  Please note, I may be sacrilegious in this regards, but there are things beyond Scripture that can explain the nature of the spiritual world.  Even John wrote in the book of John 21: 25 "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written."

I think that's it.  I'm sure there are more things I'll do and accomplished but these are the goals and thoughts I have for the upcoming year.

Night Owls vs Early Birds

With the recent time change for some of us around the world to standard time (sorry, we are not in daylight savings time), it effects a lot of us with regards to sleep patterns.  It's almost like dealing with jetlag.  But interestingly, I do not mind this time change as we "fall back" and gain an extra hour of sleep that first day of standard time and I get to wake up at a more "normal" time relative to the sunrise.  But for others, some may wake up at 4:30am instead of 5:30am and feel rather alert, maybe annoyed.  I definitely fall under the "night owl" category waking up after the sun has risen while those that can wake up at the crack of dawn are "early birds."  

But... That leads me to question... 

Why? 

Why do we have night owls (such as myself) and why do we have early birds?  And how do these two types of people work in today's society?

If we were to remove any type of time keeping devices (clocks, sun dials, TV with set time for shows, etc.), and just go by the sun, how would that really effect us?  Was there any evolutionary advantages between night owls and early birds?

According to this website, there seems to be some advantages back when people group themselves into tribes.  Some people may stay up late to guard the village until late into the night while some would wake up early to guard the village in the wee hours of the morning.  Make sense.

But in the modern world, it seems like the "good paying jobs" are for the early birds, whether you're in the office or in construction or have to work a mechanics job that starts the shift before the shop is open.  Luckily, some office jobs do have flexible hours where night owls can start later but those companies are few and far between.  Most of us night owls have to suffer in silence while working in the early bird world.  But there are a lot of jobs at night as well with regards to healthcare, food services, and maybe writers/authors, artists, and musicians.  

There does seem to be some advantages to early birds: healthier and thinner, more positive, have a steadier sleep schedule, and can be more sociable.  Surprisingly however, night owls tend to be more intelligent, can focus more later in the day, and can be more creative.  

So, in conclusion: both of these types of people in the world came about through our evolutionary development as people interacting with other people.  What worked in our early days at humans being in tribes can still work today in our modern working world of the various occupations we have in our world.