Michael asked:

Can one be aware that one is not thinking?

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A simple answer to this is Yes. This is because we are not always thinking. When we go to bed we
hopefully stop thinking (otherwise we will get a troubled nights sleep). Hence we an be aware that we
are not thinking. To put it bluntly we can say that we are aware that we are not thinking when we are
not thinking! Most of us from time to time cease to think about things and engage in other activities
like listening to music etc.

I can't see why anyone would want to deny this answer unless they identified themselves with their
thoughts for some reason. Maybe you are thinking of Descartes here?

Maybe you are thinking of the question of whether we can be AWARE OF not thinking, rather than
AWARE THAT we are not thinking?

This looks like a stronger test because we may assume that we can be aware ofthings only if they
are present, and so we cannot be aware of the negation of things. Since not thinking is the negation
of thinking we might assume that it is impossible to be AWARE OF not thinking because not thinking
can never be present to us.

The argument may go something like this:

1) Awareness is always of something i.e., I am aware of being hot, thirsty, tired.

2) 'Not thinking' is not something. It is the absence of something, namely thinking.

3) Therefore one cannot be aware that one is not thinking.

Even here I think that premise one can be questioned. Consider the scenario whereby you walk in the
room and everyone stops talking. Here you may be aware of the silence. Consider the case whereby
you come home to find your table missing. Here you are aware of the space in which you expect your
table to be found. Hence we can argue:

1) One can be aware of silence or space.

2) Silence and Space are not things but the absence of things (noise and objects).

3) One can be aware of absences or non-things.

4) Not thinking is an absence of thought or a non-thing.

5) One can be aware of not thinking i.e., when one sits quietly and allows the mind to stop chattering,
we can be aware of the silence of our own mind and so we are aware of not thinking.

Julian Bennett