05.26.08
The Lawless
What I am calling the Lawless are what Peck called his Stage One person. This stage really does not correlate as well with the earlier stages of the other theorists. I am including it here because I think the logic of it helps us understand the other stages in contrast.
Peck named this stage the Chaotic and Antisocial Stage. He estimated that while most small children pass through this stage, about one in five adults wind up stuck in this stage. Though it may not correlate well with the earlier stages of the other theorists, I intuitively believe Peck was correct in saying that some individuals never mature normally throughout their childhood and wind up stuck in this stage as adults.
I think the “antisocial” term throws people off from recognizing these people because they can be exceedingly charming, may be very well-liked and even often rise to high places of outward success in our society. The thing is though that deep inside they seriously lack the integrity that people in higher stages might take for granted.
So in general, what traits are typical of the Lawless group? Well, the overriding characteristic is that deep inside they have not submitted themselves to anything other than their own will. They are egocentric. Their primary concern is their own personal pleasure. No one else’s needs come in as anything but a distant second. For this reason most of their interactions with others are manipulative in purpose. All their behavior is in the service of their own goals. They may not see it that way. They may believe they are kind and loving because they don’t have any understanding of the depth those feelings take in others in whom the feelings are genuine. They may rely upon bullying and aggression in trying to get what they want. They are narcissistic and impulsive, relying upon no fixed rules. Mostly they are pretending. These people lack principle.
Given theabove, the life course of a Lawless person could take one of two directions. In most cases, these people likely live a life of difficulty. They may be addicted to drugs or alcohol. They may be in and out of trouble with the law. But occasionally, one of them with strong and focused ambition is able to summon the discipline to become very successful – in outward ways like money and prestige etc. But deep down inside there is a lack of integrity to these people because any goodness they purport to have is pretense. They may not even realize it but all of what they do is done for selfish reasons.
Beside the egocentric and selfish behavior, another primary consideration is the chaos. As these folks are governed only by their own will, they have no overriding principles that guide their behavior. If their will shifts from day to day, so go their priorities. They lack integrity because there are no principles, whether internal or external, guiding their choices in life.
In terms of spirituality, these folks are very undeveloped. Their only thoughts are for their own needs. They may go to church with the others but if they do, it is primarily because they have something to gain by it. Either they can make business contacts there or being seen in church helps strengthen the image they wish to promote. There is no thought to paying homage to a deity or any other reason a person might attend church. Maybe someone they need to impress will be there. They could even be quite active on committees and such. But there would be no faith behind their actions. Everything these people do is self-serving. For the most part, they probably are not capable of realizing that other people have higher level motivations than they do.