The philosophy of history can explain sequences of events as part of movements along lines of force, as opposite to incoherent or accidental happenings. Historicism can be considered a philosophical method which tries to explain through history the most relevant changes in moral, religion and justice. Eliade tells us we can study religion either through history or by trying to apprehend its essence. Eliade attributes a complex structure to the sacred space, including myths, rituals, symbols and divine images. Each hierophany exists at a particular historical time and reflects that society's position towards the sacred.
Profane reality can reveal sacredness only when it is illuminated by the symbols.
According to Eliade, the hidden sacredness is a philosophical metaphor just as valid as Freud's psychological metaphor on consciousness' censorship, which guides Freudian theory for interpreting the unconscious. Eliade reminds us that Marx analyzed and exposed the social unconscious, Freud did the same with the personal unconscious as Jung with the collective unconscious, allowing us to see the hidden structures behind facades and find the real causes of events. Eliade believes that also the history of religions aims to find the transcendent hidden in human experience, isolate it from the enormous mass of the unconscious and uncover its presence in the profane. The sacred space is intrinsically different from the profane space. When the individual finds a sacred place, he acquires a fixed point of reference by which to understand the chaotic homogeneity of spaces.