An important concept in psychoanalysis is “the unconscious,” the part of us that operates without our direct knowledge. Here is how Peter Barry describes it.
The content of the unconscious is, by definition, unknowable, but everything we do is affected by it: we can guess at the nature of this content by observing its effects…
Psychoanalysis substitutes the human unconscious for divine providence. While human beings are not given access to the hidden closet of God’s providence, we know that as the Westminster Confession says, “God the great Creator of all things doth uphold…by his most wise and holy providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge.”
John Calvin compares seeking after the hidden content of God’s providence to getting lost in a maze. Psychoanalytic criticism frequently makes this search even more disorienting by seeking answers in the heart of human beings.
Experiments in Criticism 