Acharya Prashant explains that civilization is a man-made construct of the mind, characterized by organization, conditioning, and a perpetual chase for freedom that ultimately creates more barriers. He contrasts this with the 'uncivilized' or 'savage,' which he defines as that which is not man-made and exists beyond human comprehension and morality. He suggests that the ways of truth and the divine are often seen as madness or holy craziness by worldly standards because they operate outside the predictable patterns of civilized conditioning. Using the metaphor of a child or a madman, he illustrates that true wisdom is not dependent on knowledge, technology, or societal symbols like the wheel or written language. Addressing the nature of language, Acharya Prashant asserts that it is a primary tool of conditioning and fragmentation. By naming things, humans separate them from the totality of existence, leading to illusion and suffering. He argues that silence is not merely the absence of sound but a fertile, affirmative presenceāa womb from which all things arise and into which they dissolve. True communion, he suggests, is pre-existent to communication; if two people are in communion, language becomes unnecessary. He concludes that the modern effort to 'civilize' primitive or tribal communities is a deep sin, as it forces them away from their natural state of enlightenment and silence into a world of effortful mindscapes and artificial structures.
