Sati

In class, we briefly discussed mindfulness in relation to the section "The Fire Sermon." In Buddhist tradition, mindfulness in known as sati, or at least in Pali, which is the privileged language of Theravāda Buddhism.

Sati is one of the more important practices in Buddhism, being the first of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (the sequence being mindfulness, investigation of the dhamma, energy, joy, calm, concentration, and equanimity). Correct Mindfulness is also the seventh factor of the Noble Eightfold Path, in which one thinks of the body as a body, feelings as feelings, mental states as mental states, and phenomena as phenomena.

I think one thing Eliot might be trying to expose is the lack of sati, especially in the form of rumination on the past, which at the point the poem was written was a rather dismal. Because people were unable to really appreciate life in the moment, they became disconnected, creating a fragmented reality.