The Purpose of Emotion ( Rumi )
A certain Sufi tore his robe in grief,
and the tearing brought such relief he have the robe
the name faraji, which means ripped open,
or happiness, or one who brings the joy
of being opened. It comes from the stem faraj,
which also refers to the genitals, male and female.
His teacher understood the purity of the action,
while others just saw the ragged appearance.
If you want peace and purity, tear away
the coverings! This is the purpose of emotion,
to let a streaming beauty flow through you.
Call it spirit, elixir, or the original agreement
between yourself and God. Opening into that
gives peace, a song of being empty, pure silence.
Emotions are signals - from the consciousness and spirit through to our conscious awareness - they are materialized messages from our intuition meant to awaken attention to our present experience. Emotions are gifts - they are experiential proof of our soul's experience as we interact with others and the world.
Although I allow my heart to guide me, I do not let my emotions - especially those of anger, bitterness, regret, etc. do anything but watercolor my reality. Holding on to perceived slights, voids, dissatisfactions, and even "righteous indignations" only manifest dis-ease.
Emotions are meant to be fluid and ephemeral markers of experience, but are not the lessons themselves.