Wow, that's a really interesting point. I've definitely seen the "enjoying the patterns of your own thought" thing with Leo from Zen Habits for example. He seems to rehash previous articles all the time, and I haven't heard a new thought come from him in years. No disrespect to him, he's probably found his contentment, but just an observation.
>running in circles and enjoying the patterns of your own thoughts
Sounds pretty attractive to me
For a while, yes. But that's essentially wireheading without the wire ;). Feels pretty shallow to me.
(Then again, we wouldn't have most of our problems in this world if we just stuck to being stoned hippie self-wireheaded cavedwellers ;).)
As long as the thoughts are helpful, that can be attractive for a short period. Often, they're not. Easy to get caught up in, and, even if they're positive, there is a big wide world out there that we have to engage in on some level, if only to satisfy our basic needs.
Edit to add: Just noticed one of your other comments, on paying attention to driving :)
Or in more general terms, focusing on the journey instead of the goal leads to complete detachment from reality - running in circles and enjoying the patterns of your own thoughts, like a stoned hippie. It's vegetation, not life.
I do read Adam Smith's quote differently - the way I understand it, it says to focus on a goal, but to derive happiness from the process and make that happiness independent of whether or not the goal will be ultimately achieved. An impossible thing to do in full, but definitely worth pursuing.