I mean as I understand it one way of approaching meditation looks like this: at first you just concentrate on your breathing, avoiding extraneous thoughts, then

I mean as I understand it one way of approaching meditation looks like this: at first you just concentrate on your breathing, avoiding extraneous thoughts, then once you can do that without distraction, you move on and try to step back from your thoughts, watching them arrive and letting them go. once you can do that—something I could do after a few days of practice—how far are you realistically from being able to not have those thoughts at all? perhaps that's a huge leap, but I would be surprised