Higher purpose

The point of emotions, from an evolutionary standpoint, is navigation. Go towards pleasure. Avoid pain. Pleasure is afforded by that which promotes survival and procreation; pain is provoked by that which threatens survival and procreation. In most people, the emotions have exceeded this original function and are also profoundly misleading: what causes pleasure and pain is not necessarily beneficial and harmful, respectively. Also, as human beings, as opposed to crayfish or hares, we are offered the opportunity to live by higher values than satisfying emotional impulses, e.g. living a life that is worthwhile, even at the cost of significant emotional discomfort.