Search Engines. Jon Jonsson
your suitcase to check out what baggage you are hauling along. Every author writes from his own experiences and influences. I have a very unusual access to the written tale of my tribe. I can see their obvious weaknesses and their bold strengths. I can see how these have resurfaced in the lives of my parents, and even in my own life. In the next few pages, I will use my tribe and family story as a good specimen of a "river of genes." We will see that it continues to have strong tendencies and patterns, independent of time. The story will recap just how messy, funny, and chaotic the human journey really becomes when it is played out over time. I make good use of the wanderings of my ancestors. Cyclical themes are repeated in this history again and again. Having said that, I do also see a relentless search for material well-being and spiritual assurance. That is basically the common story of any human being who has roamed around on this planet.
ON THE SHOULDERS OF OTHERS
We are now in the 21st century. It would be fascinating for you to see where and why your ancestors drifted over the planet in the past. It was all a massive search for something, and often a desperate pursuit. That story would reveal many trends to you. The problem is that, for most ordinary people, little records have been kept; only kings and wars are well reported. But your personal tribal history would be a chronicle worth seeing. We are all the product of our ancestors. Somewhere in time, there is a direct physical contact point linking your body to all your ancestral mothers and fathers. If the chain had been broken anywhere, then you would not be reading this. In that sense, we are now standing on the shoulders of all our ancestors. But most of the time we are blissfully unaware of it.
TERRORISTS ON POWER TRIPS
I am standing on the shoulders of my forerunners. My direct forefathers were the terrorists of old: the Vikings of Scandinavia. They have a fascinating history with the strangest of twists. The Viking Age spans the late 8th–11th centuries. At that time, mid- and southern Europe was Catholic Christian. It was the civilized part of the continent compared with northern Europe, which was heathen to the core. Those northern Scandinavian countries, such as Norway and Sweden, had many good things going for them. One of those things was plenty of excellent timber. During the Viking Age, the Scandinavians developed something that would now be called a cutting-edge technology. They built longships, which were cleverly designed to be open, light, and very strong. They built fleets of these vessels. At times it was an organized production, turning out ships in great numbers. With these the Scandinavians began ruling the seas. They could sail vast distances on the open seas by using the longships' large center sails. Also, rowers on each side could row the ships when needed. The strategic advantage was that the ships were light enough to maneuver in very shallow water. The Vikings could therefore land on any sandy beach or travel far inland by going up the rivers. The waterways served as the highways of old, so along the rivers, villages and riches could be found. These ships were used for trading, raiding, and exploring new territory far and wide. The Vikings were the most restless seekers of that dark era. They had harnessed a powerful tool to move around easily in that world.
JUST GO BERSERK!
The ships provided great flexibility and tactical advantages in raids. They could perform highly effective hit-and-run attacks on land. They would quickly approach a target and then leave before a counterstrike could be organized. The dragon heads on the front of the ships projected unhindered brutality. The Vikings tried to paralyze their victims with fear and intimidation. They gained the upper hand through savage violence. If necessary, they would have the Berserk ("bear-sack") in their numbers. That special warrior was draped in a bear hide and given magic mushrooms before the battle. The drug would make him fearless and insanely violent.
WEALTH AND WOMEN
The Vikings generally knew where wealth was to be found: along the shores and rivers. Banks hardly existed in those days. The Catholic Church had the largest income from tithes. So churches, monasteries, and convents were the easy targets. They had money, gold, and precious items in abundance. No self-respecting European Catholic would dare to raid such places. But the Vikings were completely driven and eager to do so. Beside this rampant hunger for riches, the Vikings had a persistent lust for fair maidens, and they simply hijacked them for the voyage back to Scandinavia. With their violent mindset and military advantage, the Vikings succeeded in terrorizing mid- and southern Europe for almost three centuries. It was next to impossible to organize against an enemy that was so quick, so nimble, and so ruthless. For the Vikings, those macho terror tactics gave them easy access to wealth, women, and the promise of a glorious afterlife to follow.
THE PIE IN THE SKY
The Scandinavians had their own belief system, and it was the driving force behind their aggressive mindset. Thor and Odin were the main gods in the Viking religion. Their beliefs were based on a complex creation story and a prediction of a cataclysmic end to the world. That would happen in a final battle called Ragnarok, a conflict so great and threatening that even Thor and Odin would perish. The chief god Odin ruled from Valhalla, which means "Great-Hall of the Slain." It was described as a heavenly chamber whose roof was made of the glittering shields of fallen Vikings. From Valhalla, Odin sent out his beautiful Valkyries to hover over the bloody battlefields of Earth. The Valkyries were fairy-like females who were famed for their flying abilities and for being young, fair-skinned, and blue-eyed. The Valkyries would choose the bravest fighters from each battle to be slain. These wonder-ladies would then carry the fallen Vikings up to the bosom of Odin to become superheroes. The beauties would lovingly attend to the slain heroes with glorious food, wine, and love. The heroes would practice valiant fights and battles up in Valhalla. They would kill each other bravely, only to be raised up again even stronger and ready for their next splendid battle. (And yes, this was over 1000 years before video games were marketed.) All of this fantastic fighting was to prepare the heroes to defend their gods at the dreaded battle of Ragnarok, which would inevitably end the world as we know it.
THE COSMIC IRONY
A few well-travelled Vikings interacted with the Christian world. They became wealthy tradesmen and had direct contacts with civilized Europe. They adopted the Christian belief system and were later influential in turning Scandinavia to Christianity. Once Christianity had spread, these violent societies became the most peaceful and secure places on the planet. And that peace has endured to this day. There was one teaching that they got right, and that was: "Thou shall love thy neighbor as yourself." Equal status and care for all citizens became the gold standard in all of Scandinavia. The Western world certainly did have a nasty, homegrown terrorist problem, but this problem was solved once and for all by simply changing gods. As it turns out, global terrorism is nothing new. We just have to dig into our history to understand the motivation behind it.
GO WEST YOUNG MAN
During the Viking Age, all was not rosy and peaceful within Scandinavia itself. Internal battles led some Vikings to leave on their longships and head west in search of new lands. The western Atlantic Ocean was an unfamiliar abyss. To head out into the open sea with no maps to follow was simply hazardous. There were no reports of any land west of the known world. The prevailing idea was that if you went too far west on this flat Earth, you would suddenly fly over the edge. It took the reckless Vikings to challenge that belief head on. After many days of sailing west from Norway, the Vikings surprisingly found Iceland in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It became their first discovery of new land as well as a new settlement.
THE LAND OF GOOD GRAPES
From Iceland the explorers again headed west, further into the great unknown. After some days of sailing, they discovered Greenland. Then, from there, "Leif the Lucky," a famous Viking, went all the way to Newfoundland in North America. Both in Greenland and in America, they set up temporary Viking camps. They could not secure those two newer territories, as they did not have the backup ships or supplies to thrive there. So the daring voyagers returned to Iceland, which became their own private territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. The island was then divided amongst