Because the stream flows

A monk sat by a stream, eyes closed, lost in meditation. Suddenly, he heard his own voice.

"Who am I?"

"You are the one asking," he replied.

"And who is the one answering?"

"The same as the one asking," he pondered.

"If we are the same, why do we converse?"

"Because the stream flows, and so do thoughts," he mused.

"If thoughts flow like the stream, where do they begin and end?"

"They begin where the stream starts and end where the stream ends," he contemplated.

"But where does the stream truly begin and end?"

The monk opened his eyes, seeing the stream flowing without beginning or end.

In that moment, he understood: the stream and he were one.