Thank you Open for describing this phenomenon so clearly. It can be such a complex dynamic! I feel to share my perspective on this, coming from the projecting side. When I would get involved with someone with a strong 'fatherly' energy I feel there was even more than one projection where I was relating myself to, which could even switch and morph; the projection of my father how he actually behaved towards me (abusive) and one where I projected an ideal image of a father onto someone. Either way, I indeed couldn't see someone for who they really were, also causing me to behave in a way that completely overrides my true thoughts and feelings. Although what sometimes does happen is that those holograms fall away for a moment and you do see the real person behind them, but then feeling disappointed or even angry because they don't meet the expectations from the projection and this is where the drama kicked in mostly, trying to get them to behave in a way that fits into the projections again and keeps them in place. Looking back on periods where this happened it felt like hallucination and the behavior coming from it can seem ridiculous and even malicious, but in the end comes from immense pain. Of course this doesn't mean not to take responsibility, but it can certainly be hard to unwind.