This morning, reading Tim Ferriss’ “5-Bullet Friday” newsletter, I came across a familiar name – John Perry Barlow – and a short treatise he wrote many years ago: 25 Principles of Adult Behavior.
It struck a long-forgotten chord.
I met Barlow a few times in the early ’90s when we were both part of The WELL (Whole Earth ’Lectronic Link), a pioneering Bay Area online community that predated the modern internet.
Back then, we built community and connection through Gopher, Unix and a lot of dial-up, pre-browser patience – mostly among residents of San Francisco, the East Bay and Marin.
My late friend Martina Johnson, who knew him well, always called him simply “Barlow,” as did practically anyone who knew him.
Barlow was a true legend in the end-of-the-century Bay Area tech scene: Originally a rancher from Wyoming, he was also poet, essayist, cattle rancher and a true pioneer of the early online world.
He co-founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) – promoting and protecting Internet civil liberties and was a lifelong advocate of digital rights.
And any self-respecting Deadhead would tell you that he co-wrote a number of their favorite songs, including “Cassidy,” “Mexicali Blues” and one of my faves, “Estimated Prophet.”
Re-reading his 25 Principles of Adult Behavior again today, I found them as relevant and meaningful as ever.
I’d be interested in hearing what you think. Here’s the list and the link to his original article:
PRINCIPLES OF ADULT BEHAVIOR
1. Be patient. No matter what.
2. Don’t badmouth: Assign responsibility, never blame. Say nothing behind another’s back you’d be unwilling to say, in exactly the same tone and language, to his face.
3. Never assume the motives of others are, to them, less noble than yours are to you.
4. Expand your sense of the possible.
5. Don’t trouble yourself with matters you truly cannot change.
6. Expect no more of anyone than you yourself can deliver.
7. Tolerate ambiguity.
8. Laugh at yourself frequently.
9. Concern yourself with what is right rather than whom (sic) is right.
10. Never forget that, no matter how certain, you might be wrong.
11. Give up blood sports.
12. Remember that your life belongs to others as well. Do not endanger it frivolously. And never endanger the life of another.
13. Never lie to anyone for any reason.
14. Learn the needs of those around you and respect them.
15. Avoid the pursuit of happiness. Seek to define your mission and pursue that.
16. Reduce your use of the first personal pronoun.
17. Praise at least as often as you disparage.
18. Never let your errors pass without admission.
19. Become less suspicious of joy.
20. Understand humility.
21 Forgive.
22. Foster dignity.
23. Live memorably.
24. Love yourself.
25. Endure.
As Barlow wrote in one of his most memorable Dead songs:
“Let your life proceed by its own design.”
#JohnPerryBarlow #TheWELL #GratefulDead #EFF #Community #Leadership #DigitalPioneers
