In this paper the history of consciousness will be discussed in relation to the place of psychoanalysis in the history of ideas. A holistic way of thinking is described, which brings together various ideas about how the nature of reality is perceived, when science has for the last 200 years seemed to win out over religion. The influence of Goethe on Freud suggests an unrecognized holistic element in Freud's work. A holistic approach reconciles some of the divisions between scientific and religious thinking and leads to a discussion of the sacred.