The Conscious mind is a conscious representation of evolution ? it was moulded and created by evolution , designed and driven by evolution . It is Conscious (which is pretty unique it would seem ) .
So does this not mean it is a conscious representation of evolution ?

I look at it slightly different , we have fun as a reward , a rock climber enjoys the actively because he is preparing , physically and emotionally for perceived dangers he may face , one of the reasons we have evolved to what we are today , the ability to imagine and prepare for danger . To me it seems one the biggest drives for people enjoying sports . We have "fun" for a reason .
As in the case of the rollercoaster or the person watching a horror movie , there conscious mind allows you to have "fun" , it is conscious of the emotion and wants more , driven by the need of the subconscious to have "fun" . In short I believe we are cheating the system to get our dosage . We watch a feel good film , we feel good . yet we are not in a good situation , we cheat the system . This we are able to do because of a conscious mind , but always driven by the sneaky subconscious . :)

To go of on a one . Does a tree feel happy when it bathes in a summer sun ? in a primal sense I believe it does , it is driven to the sun . By what ? I believe the drive or will of a thing is "emotions" . Our problem is we are conscious of this "feeling" we question it , we label it , we are arrogant with it . A tree simply reacts to this "emotion" . Do remember I am just thinking in a lateral sense

Lets try some lateral thinking to ease the discussion . We put names to things and label them in a attempt to understand them , using our conscious mind , the notion of types of emotions is something we create in our conscious mind . What if there are only core emotions , merely a different way of understanding and the perception of these emotions by our conscious mind and our unconscious mind .
Her fear was triggered by her unconscious mind , but enjoyed by her conscious mind , once it was aware there was no risk . Taking the example of the girl and the bear . The conscious mind as a way to perceive things . Our conscious mind has the skill to twist and warp "emotions" to get what we want , because we are conscious of "emotions" , driven by the need of the subconscious mind , which I personally think is one sneaky sly fellow , for sure . Remember , lateral thinking so don't laugh at me to hard

"Are you suggesting that emotions determine what ideas the intellect turns to, and thus in the end determines what the intellect comes to know? And would that square with the notion that the primitive limbic system somehow precedes the intellect? "

A very interesting perception and observation . Not one I thought about until now . Yes , "emotion" drives the intellect I would say , the path of thought even . The old funny view of a mad scientist for example , clearly driving by emotion on there intellectual path , the joy of learning is clearly a "emotion" driven thing . interesting :) . That would tempt one to say yes the limbic system proceeds and even drives the intellect , maybe the brain itself .As I said I think we probably totally underestimate the importance of "emotions" to the beginnings of life . We come from a single cell , always fascinated me where the motivation comes from that enable the evolution of more complex life . You could even ask where does the motivation come from for everything . But once again I loose myself and get carried away :)

"Emotions" are not spiritual or mental states . We are conscious of our emotions , but a Unconscious mind only reacts to "emotions" . We have a developed a second , conscious mind in evolution , which questions everything , which tries to make sense of everything for us , including "emotions" . In reality "emotions" and "consciousness" are Organic ,Neurons ,electrochemical and who knows what else . But it is not in reality spiritual or even mental states . What we call emotions is something that more then likely was developed very early in the beginnings of life . In fact we probably underestimate just how important "emotions " really are in the development of life , more then likely because of our arrogance that only humans really feel "emotions" . Our conscious mind is a pretty unique evolution step , the fact that it is capable of questioning its very own existence is amazing .You could say we are what a AI would be like if it developed consciousness . Can we develop consciousness within technology ? Yes , we will one day , once we understand more of how it actually works , which we will in time , I believe our conscious mind will eventually evolve as by its nature , it drives evolution itself .
The more we question the more we will evolve , which never stands still .One day I believe our conscious mind will learn how to control the unconscious mind , if you look you will see people have been trying and doing this already . Imagine if we could control the unconscious with the conscious . Turn pain on or off , tell our antibodies what to attack and what not to , could we even stop decay and death itself with control of our unconscious mind ?

Sorry , I am going of on a one :))) But I do believe the way we have evolved the 2 minds is amazing . One theory is its the development of the Human eye and the way it sees that enabled the development of a Conscious mind . Makes sense , its all about how we perceive things .Fascinating stuff :)

The Garden of Eden is only a interesting observation of how we have try to understand ourselves . The fact we need certain neurological features to enable the emotion , makes me believe this is not by accident , rather the features are there by design to allow emotions , we do not learn these emotions . What are emotions , there true reason and not the one our conscious mind is trying to make sense off . If we share the same emotion of fear as a sheep does , at what point in evolution did we share that same development ? or did the sheep in its evolution merely developed the same "emotion" as we did independently of each other ? Our arrogance that we created and learned emotions is not surprising . Even the word itself is merely our way of trying to consciously understand and label something , emotions were around a long time before we put a name to it . Do we fully understand emotions ? I very much doubt it . But considering it is a system developed to protect , survive and thrive I firmly believe "emotions " were around a long time before Humans . Lets take sex emotions , we all know what its like for Dogs when a Bitch is in heat :) one tracked mind for the dogs , any competition and they attack . Our behaviour is exactly the same in reality , despite our intelligence or civilisation . We do not learn how to be jealousy , its a natural instinct you find in nearly all animals . If our emotions are learned by our mind why do we still kill each other , why are we still so selfish , if we are learning emotions then we would of learned how to not hate and live peacefully a long time ago . But we do not learn . why?

So what does it tell us when someone can not learn a emotion ? Empathy for example .
"Note that a character who lacks empathy can still be perfectly capable of cognitive empathy; that is, the ability to recognise and identify an emotion — they might not be able to share in somebody's happiness or sadness, but they have learnt well enough what happiness or sadness looks like"

So if you can no teach or learn a emotion because of a chemical unbalance we were born with , does that not suggest emotions are something we are born with , or not ? They can not learn empathy because the right ingredients are not there , or , because the correct ingredients are not there , empathy emotion can not develop ? . Personally I believe both point to emotions being something build into us rather then just learned during life .
The Garden of Eden was a peaceful place until someone ate the apple , releasing the bad emotions , I find this story interesting . So they believed we only had good emotions at one time ? I am aware its meant to be a tale of Evil at work in tempting man , but still the whole reasoning behind these stories is interesting , does it say we learned the emotions , or giving the emotion ?
So if we learn emotions to help us survive , how did we survive in the first place ? if we could not defend ourselves because we had not learned the emotion of fear , or anger then I doubt we would of getting very far in our evolution . Fear must be a very old emotion , I have no doubt this emotion is felt by just about every animal , and from a very early stage . It triggers adrenaline which helps to make us stronger or faster . Did every new species need to learn and evolve these emotions ? or were they passed down from the first beginnings of life ? We are conscious of our emotions , whereas a sheep simply reacts to the emotion , but I believe we share the base primal emotions in reality .

Its our brain and its workings that drives our evolution . Our minds created Gods , to cheat death , to understand what you can not , your subconscious mind protecting you from the harsh reality , we work this way because of how our minds have evolved . Could the notion of God have a say in our evolution ? No , the idea comes from our minds , to help and protect our sanity , if the subconscious mind sees a different way or a different need in order to survive , then it will change the notion . Imagination is something evolution has created to help us survive , I am aware there are a few different theories exactly which evolution step made us more "Intelligent" , the fact that we developed the ability to "imagine" a possible threat , and prepare for it is one of them . But I do not think the notion of God was a evolution step , but a evolution step at work . If that makes sense :)

We do not learn emotions as a skill , but we do have the skill to learn how to use emotions , which in itself brings a interesting Question . I become Angry , instinctively , in certain circumstances , yet in certain situations I will use the emotion of anger to get what I want , even when I am not actually angry . The use of sadness emotions to trigger the sympathy of another person is another example . Is this my conscious mind using these tactics , or my sub-conscious mind ? is this what I have learned to do , or was it instinctive ? . We are born with emotions in place , but we learn how to use them for our benefit in life .

Its the Nature of philosophy to disagree . The nature of a philosopher is to argue :)

"Importantly, emotions, as differential, require that emotions are learned: they are a skill, which we learn to employ in one way or another, sometimes well, sometimes badly, sometimes to no effect." StreetligthX

I believe we are "programmed " with emotions , to survive and thrive . The fact that we learn how to use these emotions in different ways as we mature , even twist emotions , to get what we want , still comes down to the same thing . To Survive and thrive . Emotions is a way that the subconscious mind controls . I do not believe we actually have much "Free will" . The battle between the conscious mind and the subconscious mind in our evolution , past , present and in particular the future is a very curios thing .We create laws and punishment to punish the selfish and aggressive , the thief's and greedy . But just about all criminal actions are based on the "Human Programme" we are all Build with , there subconscious mind is merely doing what it has always done , we are very selfish when the going gets tough . Yet our conscious mind says this is wrong and we must fight it . So what is going on ? Battle of the minds , conscious vs subconscious ? Emotions being the front line . Is this were we get the concept of good and evil ? I am really interested to see what evolution has in store for us , the more we learn and understand , the more we will evolve

You are elegant and intelligent in you're response and logic . Yet you still fall into the trap of believing that if you can not see it , it can not be .
Once wo thought the world was flat , because we could not see it , we were the centre of our solar system , because we could not see further , that we were the centre of the Galaxy , even the universe . But we show our arrogance again when we think the Universe is the centre of all things . As we do now . We do not know everything , therefore I am not going to assume that because I can not see it , it does not exist . So , there can not be something from nothing just because we do not understand it . The Big Bang theory is another example , we do not know how or why , so must of been from nothing .

Better to ask yourself what are emotions ? they are all instinctive , often run by our sub-conscious mind .
Do we control our emotions and decisions ? or is our whole life based on instinctive reactions and emotions , only the perception of control , but in fact all our emotional states are instinctive to ensure the survival of the species . Even our ability to self destruct and create wars are based in some primeval emotion meant to help us survive in a harsh world . So what is Happiness ?

To a stone age man water from the sky is something from nothing . Until he understands how weather and rain actually works . Or do you believe we understand everything ? I don't .

You can not have something out of nothing , even a particle proton comes from somewhere , we just don't understand yet , last I read about them they theorize it is connected to "Dark Matter" , all of which needs to be proven . The Human Brain has limitations on what we can actually comprehend , we can not comprehend the notion that there was no beginning and is no end , everything we see exists in a cycle , from life to nature to the cosmos , with a start and a ending , we now transfer these ideas on to our new interpretation , its all just a transfer of energy , nothing ever dies , just a transfer of energy , yet still we can not except that there was no beginning , that its always been . there has to be a start , something out of nothing . I do not profess to have the answers but I do believe it has always been and will always be .