Given the contents of this thread, I see that most seem to think "no".

Someone asked Rene Descartes a similar question once.

He responded, "I think, therefore I am."

Then, they asked if he liked cyanide laced peanut butter.

He replied, "I think not!" and promptly disappeared.

Thinking often gets me into trouble.
Not thinking gets me into even more. Besides thinking is fun.

Perhaps if we gave intuition as much airtime as thought we would all be a little less confused

Of course it does. From the sound of it, you're a preacher.

<hic> I'm sorry <hic> What was the <hic> question?

Now where's that bottle go?

In my own experience I often find, particularly in conversation, that words pour forth from my mouth without me having to consciously think about them too much.

When analysing what I've said I generally do find it coheres with my 'thinking' on the topic, but at the same time it seems as if some pre-conscious or subconscious process is drawing these words up from the well of my consciousness without my conscious (thinking) mind needing to be involved. Do others experience this phenomenon?

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."

A. Einstein.

"Man is not the only animal who thinks,
but he's the only one who thinks he's not an animal"
(Pascal Pick - translation by me)

slightly OT but i couldn't resist.

depending on what you think about, yes thinking is a good thing.

Here is a THOUGHT.
The Human species is the only species that hides behind "thought". They deceive each other as to their true being. Humans are the only species that
Kill for pleasure and/or sport.

In evidence of this I present the Wolf. The Wolf kills only in defence, or for food.
They protect their family and/or pack. They tolerate no breech of their laws, any who breech the laws are banished or killed. Any Wolf that kills indiscrimately
is killed.

On the other hand they love without condition or reservation. They protect
their own with out reservation.

In short, The more I am around people the more I love Wolves.

Here is another thought.

The Lion will kill a Hyena for reasons other than defense, or food.

I know many people aren't so interested in classics (Greek/Romans) anymore but in Nicomachean Ethics, the first thing Aristotle tries to figure out is "what is it to be a human being". Using reason is one of the very distinctive feature of being a human being (thinking in a sense of self-conscious thought) and I'd say reasoning is the most proper way of 'thinking'. So yes, I'd say thinking is a good thing but it must be done in a reasonable/logical fashion or we'll be convinced by our own dogmas. (and I'm sorry 'better' or 'worse' isn't relative or else there is no point in even thinking, it is judgment of an objective statement)

Drunk and high are usually my best mindsets

Pretty much. But, then again, most people I hear defying thinking haven't thought up a reason to not think. Generally it goes something like this: "Dude. You think too much. Just live life. Have fun... want some weed?" Fun is subjective to begin with -- so it's not an a priori answer.

I deduce that it's all a matter of personality. Of course, I like to think of certain facets of my personality as "better" then Mr. weed up there, but it's really too much to ask someone to change.

[EDIT: Heh; that statement was not directed at OffHand]

"Here! You! Yes you! I demand that you start thinking philosophically right now!" Doesn't work. Some people just seem incapable of it, or if they are they don't find value in it.

Nice thought -- and I'd love it if intuition did all the work. It is, after all, the brilliant part of the human mind. I distinctly remember "knowing" the answer to math problems on tests in the past without doing any computation. But I still had to compute the answer to make sure -- because intuition is often wrong!

That happens to me a little -- language is, afterall, deeply embedded in the human mind -- but not all the time. More often, when I try to analyze my intuition and overall be metacognitive, I find that words fall far short of actually describing what I think. The most perfect description ever -- if I could think of it -- would still create a slightly different image in the mind of the listener. It's quite frustrating, really.

SigmaX

My instinctive answer when I read this post was 'yes'. I didn't have to think about it, I knew the answer. It may have lead to many of humanities pit falls, but it also creates better, higher standards of mentality. By practicing thought, we improve it.

Define thinking.

It depends whether you have a Mind to think with. Some of the other creatures on our planet do things instinctually. Who is to say that what we think is not also an instinctual exercise too?