I'm not sure where you came from, but it's one hell of a first-impression you've made on me.

Of course I would take the time to read your work, my life consists of poring over philosophical/sociological texts and critiquing them. It would have been a sin not to engage with your thought-provoking ideas.

You are right in that philosophy is dialogue, but it's not just a dialogue between people, it is also the means to which we figure things out on our own, it gives us the ability to engage in independent internal dialogue, which thus gives us the means to live. I don't think it's one or the other, I think you need to live to know how to theorize about living, but you also need to know how to theorize about living in order to live well. This is why children also need hands-on practical play and experience, a type of 'philosophical masturbation', as I like to call it. Children are fantastic philosophers, but often they are not given the space to explore these ideas. My mind was completely blown when an 8-year old girl came up with a realisation that I had come to as an adult. When I first thought of it, I thought I had realised something incredible, and here was a small child, coming up with it all on her own! Also, when you think about it, adult-philosophers are children at heart, they want to explore the world and absorb everything and know everything. This knowledge should not be withheld from children. I like the idea of the curriculum being shaped by enlightened children, rather than adults who tell them what's good for them. Though, I'm a bit of a Platonist, I believe the world will never be free until we have 'philosopher kings', which these days, just means that everyone needs to be an open-minded philosopher in order for democracy to work properly, and this starts with putting an end to the authoritarian schooling system which tells children how to think and how to live, which just creates maladjusted and irrational adults. I also do believe, like you, that children are starved of much-needed intimacy these days, they are sheltered from forming intimate connections with adults who are not their parents. I think this repression may be a big contributor to the trauma of puberty, since every erotic desire of intimacy with others has been brutally suppressed hitherto, as well as basic knowledge of sexual intimacy.

Also, self-discipline is indeed very important, but there is a danger in being too self-repressed. I think there is perhaps a healthy balance to be had between hedonism and self-discipline. Indeed, Freud wrote about how sexual repression was a good thing for society (in his view) because it resulted in 'sublimation' which he believed fueled human creativity. In later life, he questioned some of these assumptions, which more or less paved the way for the sexual revolution, which didn't go as far as it should have - perhaps we need a second revolution, and this time, not leave the youth behind. But yes I do agree with your sentiments, I think (as you said) we have different takes on the word 'discipline'. The idea of 'being in control' is very important, we can't control the progression of time and certain events, but we can control how we perceive these changes. I'm a stoic, so I believe we should be very aware of our weaknesses, the darkness in the world, and the inevitable disappointment we will feel in our lives at some point or other. The important thing is that we find 'inner-peace', and if this is what you mean by self-discipline, then I am on board.

I am deeply impressed with the content of your posts, I hope you stick around as I would like to get to know you and discuss things more with you. Do you know of 'Visions of Alice'? It is another girl-love forum you might want to check out. Not that you shouldn't post on GirlChat, but I think it's good to have a presence on both forums. They both have different but great things to offer.

All the best!