Explain the passage, “ But never, he had really found this self, because he had wanted to capture it in the net of thought.” Why cannot my “self” be thought?

The self can only be discovered by, ironically, the self. It is then the mind that must purge the self from consciousness. Thought is a tangled web of desires and primal impulses. Enlightenment cannot be found in the web of thought and samsara. The mind must be clear for progress to be made.