What is "a design for living that really works"?
In short:
- The phrase is on page 28 of the Big Book, near the end of Chapter 2, "There Is a Solution": "A new life has been given us or, if you prefer, 'a design for living' that really works." (p. 28)
- In its place it's another name for the new life the writers say they were given. It comes in the sentence right after they describe what they found as "the loving and powerful hand of God" (p. 28). The book offers the phrase "if you prefer" and puts it in quotation marks; it doesn't say why.
- The book uses the phrase twice more. In "Bill's Story," right after saying that work with another alcoholic saved the day when nothing else did, Bill writes: "It is a design for living that works in rough going." (p. 15) In the amends chapter, "Our design for living is not a one-way street" (p. 81): it holds for the wife as much as for the husband.
- Context confirms the usual reading, a whole way of life rather than a single rule, and shows where the book roots it: in a spiritual experience, in work with other alcoholics, and in the home.
The passage in Chapter 2
The last pages of Chapter 2 (pp. 25–29) build to the phrase: - "There is a solution." (p. 25) The writers didn't like the self-searching and confession it took, but they saw it working in others, and they picked up "the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at our feet" (p. 25). - Their central claim: they have had "deep and effective spiritual experiences" (p. 25) that changed their whole attitude to life, to other people and to God's universe. For an alcoholic as serious as they were, "we believe there is no middle-of-the-road solution" (p. 25). - The story of an American businessman whom a celebrated psychiatrist called hopeless (pp. 26–27). The only exception the doctor knew was the alcoholic who had "vital spiritual experiences" (p. 27); the man's religious convictions, the doctor said, weren't that (p. 27). - "Here was the terrible dilemma in which our friend found himself" (p. 28) before the experience that made him free. "We, in our turn, sought the same escape with all the desperation of drowning men." (p. 28) What seemed a flimsy reed proved to be the hand of God (p. 28). - Then the line: a new life, or "a design for living," that really works (p. 28).
The paragraphs right after it widen the door. William James describes many ways men have found God, and "We have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can be acquired." (p. 28) Which religious body a member joins, if any, is "an entirely personal affair" (p. 28). The chapter then lists what the book will give: an explanation of alcoholism, a chapter for the agnostic, "clear-cut directions" for how they recovered, and the personal stories (pp. 28–29).
Notice the verb. The sentence says the new life, or design, "has been given us" (p. 28). In this first use, the sentence presents the design as something received, not something the writers drew up.
The other two places
Page 15, "Bill's Story." In his first year and a half sober Bill found little work, wasn't well, and was troubled by waves of self-pity and resentment (p. 15). What saved him: "when all other measures failed, work with another alcoholic would save the day" (p. 15). Going to his old hospital and talking with a man there lifted him up. "It is a design for living that works in rough going." (p. 15)
Page 81, "Into Action." The amends section turns to infidelity at home. After advice on what to tell a wife, the book says: "Our design for living is not a one-way street. It is as good for the wife as for the husband." (p. 81)
Does the context change the reading?
It confirms it. "Design for living" does mean a whole way of life in the Big Book. What the context adds is detail the phrase loses when it travels alone: the first time the book uses it, it comes as another name for a new life given through a spiritual experience, with "if you prefer" left open to readers who'd rather put it that way; Bill uses it right after describing how work with other alcoholics kept him going; and Chapter 6 uses it about the home.
Read it yourself
- Chapter 2, "There Is a Solution" (pp. 17–29), free from A.A.: https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt2.pdf
- Chapter 1, "Bill's Story" (pp. 1–16): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt1.pdf
- Chapter 6, "Into Action" (pp. 72–88): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt6.pdf
- Related: What does "carry this message" mean — which message? · What is the "spiritual awakening" in Step 12? · How does the Big Book say to make amends?
- The full book, Alcoholics Anonymous, is sold by A.A. World Services at https://onlineliterature.aa.org.
Sources
| Source | Pages | First published |
|---|---|---|
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 2, "There Is a Solution" | 25–29 | 1939 |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 1, "Bill's Story" | 15 | 1939 |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 6, "Into Action" | 81 | 1939 |
Page numbers are from the fourth edition (2001). The Preface says the program chapters have been "left largely untouched" since 1939 (p. xi).
Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book is © A.A. World Services, Inc.
These pages answer questions about A.A. from A.A.'s own published literature, read in full, with every quote checked word for word against the page it cites. Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. What we read, and when each source was written.