Hi everyone,
This might seem as an unusual question to alot of people, but since I as of late have been working my way out of apathy and disconnectedness from my self (and others for that matter), I'm trying to learn how to deal with emotions in a healthy way - which seems to be a problem for most people in our culture. What my relationship with them should be, how real they are. Perhaps there is a distinction between feelings, love, emotions etc.?

What are emotions really? A chemist might say that they are merely chemicals in the brain and so forth. Abraham-hicks may say that they are a reaction to a "want" or a "not-want". Eckart Tolle - if I recall correctly preaches something along the lines of that they are a part of the ego and thus not real or does that only go for negative emotions? Alot of what I hear is that emotions are a "reaction to thoughts" or "based on thought reactions". But others seem to imply that they emerge based on what happens to your "Self"(soul) and how your Self is affected by a given event or other.

Do we have emotions in the afterlife?
I have this idea that emotions are what it means to be alive, and to be human in this life - but if they are just reactions to conditioned thought patterns or to how your personality and ego are affected, how should they be regarded?

Bottom line is; Where do emotions come from? Are they to be transcended or are they directly related to the soul? Perhaps they really are just aspects of the ego, and true living is loving and being?
What do you guys think? What are your experiences? I would appreciate anyone's answers/ thoughts on this, especially since they tend to be so helpful and deep.