A philosopher who lecturered on spiritualism, Emmet Fox (1886-1951) was born on this day in Ireland, the son of a Parliament representative. Raised a Catholic, young Emmet attended a Jesuit college and explored the metaphysical world of New Thought.

"You cannot be healthy, you cannot be happy and you cannot be prosperous if you have a bad disposition," he once said. With creative visualization, he discovered the gifts of healing and meditation, what he called "the complete harmony of body, mind, and soul."

"Jesus Christ is easily the most important figure that has ever appeared in the history of mankind... to have been the religious inspiration of the whole European race throughout two millenniums," he wrote in The Sermon on the Mount. The book influenced the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous.

With ideas at the heart of the Christian Science, Fox gave inspirational guidelines for connection with faith. He stressed life-affirming lessons in personal empowerment, "signposts to happier living." His popular books continue to inspire today.

"The common things of life, the winds and the rain, the clouds, the earth itself--is amenable to man's thought," he said.

It is your God-given duty to stake your claim to peace, poise, power, prosperity, and health."

Accept the gift of abundance.