These two words speak to a way we divide the world for ourselves. Alitorium from the Latin alia or other is the environment of others and othernesses we inhabit. Suitorium from the Latin sui or self is the realm of me, mine, of me, for me, by me; it’s the locus of my disposition to resist or insist.

My environment of others and othernesses, my alitorium, can be described thus: 

  1. it’s a plentitude, an abundance of others and othernesses.
  2. some others and othernesses are primarily objective (outer), and others subjective (inner).The power my background has over me is subjective, but the background itself is objective and historical, for instance.
  3. the others in my alitorium can be thought of as those known, those known of, and those unknown, that last category often a place-holder for new discoveries.
  4. the others and othernesses in my alitorium have a positive or negative or mixed valence of greater or lesser intensity.
  5. others and othernesses in my alitorium are more prominent and more salient, the more pertinent they are to my basic motives (survival, comfort, dignity) or agendas (profit, power, perpetuation).
  6. the constituents of my alitorium are not tame, as-if others and othernesses.

My suitorium is pretty stable in contour, composition and internal configuration over time so our behaviors and beliefs are generally consistent and predictable, which is a convenience for everyone. My suitorium may include a set of taken-for-granted as-if ‘others’. It may also include latent inner others.

Outer others can impact the contours, composition and internal configuration of the suitorium from the outside by pressing or retreating. Inner others can impact the suitorium on the inside by swelling or shrinking.

The more or less dynamic readiness to respond of our suitorium to our alitorium is our livingness.