The insights might be nice - afterwards (unless you're using the word insight as in vipassana, but this does not seem so looking at the context).

*During* meditation, they're distractions - just another thought.

I like thinking too, but nothing has brought me more peace than not thinking. It's hard to explain.

It doesn't make you dumb or simple-minded, although not being *able* to think/reason definitely will imo.

It's more about knowing what's truly important - I value tranquility and peace more, and not thinking so much brought more of that.

But it's not the absence of thought per se, the absence of thought is a manifestation of the real reason, a cultivation of concentration and insight (in the vipassana sense).