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Court Knee: scary what the hysterical fear of someone can lead to.

Precisely. This is why it's so valuable to be able to recognize the illusory nature of our projections. The rope and snake story discussed in the Buddhist Wisdom article is but one example of how we can "see" something that isn't there at all. When the recipient of our fearful projections is only a rope, there's little harm done. When it's another human being, the potential for grave harm is very high.