Mind-stuff versus Thinkyness
   

Perplexity.ai:

You can turn that phrase into a very useful pointer if you sharpen it a bit:

You cannot be what you are aware of as an object.

In experience, anything you can notice—body sensations, emotions, thoughts, images of “me,” even subtle states of spaciousness or peace—appears to awareness, like objects appearing in a field. If it can be observed, it is not the observer.

So in self‑inquiry, this pointer says: whenever you find something and say “Ah, this is what I am,” check whether it is knowable—changing, appearing, disappearing. If it is, then it’s something you have, not what you are. What you are is the knowing presence to which all of that appears, the simple fact “I am aware,” prior to any particular content of awareness.

A very direct way to explore this is:

Ask quietly: “What is the ‘I’ that is aware of this?” and refuse to turn that into another image or feeling you look at.

Notice a current experience (for example, a body sensation or a thought like “I don’t get this”).

See clearly: “This is appearing to awareness; it’s known.”