Emotion's Purposes

 Do emotions have purpose? I have been considering this subject in light of research in evolutionary psychology. I haven't been a big fan of this latter discipline, because I sometimes feel that it can make sweeping arguments about what kinds of emotions serve what purposes. However, I think it might be useful to consider whether people can choose certain emotions that they want to cultivate, and refuse to water the seeds of others. Certainly many Buddhist teachers such as Thich Nhat Hanh have used this latter analogy in many of their publications. Is it realistic to think of emotions in this way, I wonder?
   I think that there seem to be two ways of approaching emotions that are powerful or dominating: one of them is expedient and the other is more reflective. or analytic The expedient way is not to try to control emotions at all, but to use a meditative method to calm the mind, so that emotions don't have such a huge sway on a person's mentality. If a person has a strong emotion, there is simply not much value in trying to talk a person out of it, even if it's very destructive or volatile. This is because the emotion already has a strong power over a person in that moment, and so the thought of trying to make it otherwise is going to be like throwing a piece of paper into a tornado. In those cases, the only way one can get through it is through clear observation, not trying to resist the emotion and not trying to 'use' it in any way either. Once I am clear about the emotion and am resting in awareness of it, I am paradoxically not so identified with it. With clear seeing, there is no 'me' in that observation of the emotion.
   Then, when the mind is calm enough, there is the possibility to understand the emotion more reflectively. I suppose then one can start to analyze the emotion to understand what patterns it comes from, why it is so powerful, and then one can ask, does it serve a person well? If the emotion only causes one to feel further misery and destructive thoughts, is that emotions serving one's well-being and survival? I think it's then that we can start thinking in terms of watering certain kinds of plants, and not watering others. If a person skips the first step and goes to the second, they are bound to find it a bit artificial to do so. But if on the other hand they stay on the first step and not go to the second, they will certainly have a clear contemplative awareness, but might not have insights into the textures and causes of the emotions themselves.