Schools of thought like Taoism, Buddhism and even modern therapy modalities like ACT (Acceptance and Committment Therapy) make a point of highlighting the dangers of identifying too closely with our thoughts or mistaking our thoughts with reality--our own or someone else's. We benefit from these kinds of messages, so long as they do not become anti-intellectual. Here is a sweeping generalization, but one I'll run with: it is a strange irony that, for how ignorant most of society is, it thinks far too much.