When the Narrative Becomes a Cage: Narrative, Faith, and Perception

This work analyzes the transition from narrative as a stabilizing structure to narrative as a mechanism of constraint. Drawing on examples from religion, history, and secular knowledge systems, it explores how interpretive frameworks become mandatory, literal, and immune to questioning. The paper distinguishes between chosen and imposed belief, examines punishment as a regulatory mechanism for narrative deviation, and addresses how historical inconsistencies are minimized to preserve coherence. Rather than proposing alternative explanations or rejecting faith and tradition, the text argues for restoring narrative to the domain of questioning and autonomy, framing interpretive closure as a psychological and institutional phenomenon rather than a marker of truth