Individual consciousness is heteronomous in that the source of the 'action' is off-stage. This is to varying degrees; when it's weak you seem to be in control and are happy, but when it is strong the resulting pain causes you to notice it, and to notice that it has always been this way. But heteronomy is itself a concept, a staging of experience in accordance with deeply conditioned beliefs. You can observe it but that doesn't make you the witness of it. It might me more true to say that the conditioning is the witness.