You've described our basic paradigm. There are two of us and we call our experience co-conscious. There are times that we are not, but it is few and far between these days. I just spent two days and three nights in the hospital, my lil disappeared during that time. The moment we got out she knocked us so far to the back of the bus that we missed some stuff. But like I said, it's rare these days. Back to our bus description:

You described the idea as being a passenger. We see it more or less the same way. Our home is a bus. Most of the time, I'm driving. Sometimes my little is sitting on my lap, sometimes she's in the seat behind me. Sometimes she's three seats behind me and occasionally she retreats to the back of the bus where she can no longer see through the windshield.

Obviously, when she is sitting on my lap, she's going to see everything out the windshield that I do. If she's a seat back, she'll miss a little bit but still catch most of it. Three seats back and she misses more - much further back than that and she has no idea what's happening outside the windshield. The situation can reverse, with me retreating as well, but it doesn't happen that often these days...though it could, she is an awesome driver.

Anyway, even if I am sitting right next to her, if she's got her hands on the steering wheel instead of me. There is no way I can correct our course as fast as if I am holding the steering wheel. I have to get back in the drivers seat first and that takes time. The further back I go in the bus, the longer it takes me to get back to the wheel.

So yeah, most of the time we have a choice who is driving at some level, but until we reach the wheel we're powerless to do anything.