Full Idea
We can think of the world as a 'whole' that has everything as its parts, like raisins in a cake, or we can think of the world as a 'container', which is disjoint from everything there is, like a bottle containing water.
Gist of Idea
The world is either a whole made of its parts, or a container which contains its parts
Source
Barbara Vetter (Potentiality [2015], 7.3)
Book Reference
Vetter,Barbara: 'Potentiality: from Dispositions to Modality' [OUP 2015], p.258
A Reaction
[compressed] Space and time seem to have a special role here, and it is hard to think of any other candidates for being the 'container'. I think I will apply my 'what's it made of' test to ontology, and opt for the world as a 'whole'.