@Appleblossom - We have morphed this conversation that started out as ... crying ... into how we "are' in the world and that is fine, really fine with me, that is what conversations with people who are vitally intelligent and interested int he world do - they spring new thoughts and create opportunities to share knowledge and information. i love that, makes me feel less alone in the world sharing what makes my heart sing. I think a lot, and I cry almost every day (or at least 'tear up" anyway) and if crying is an example of 'emotion' in response to some thought or stimulus (or unconscious or sub-conscious thing) then we are still on track. 
I will check out Robert Sapowlsky's lectures at Stanford thanks.
This (biology, emotion etc) reminds me of the reading I have done in my pursuit of knowledge in regards non-human animals. I have read many of the *books of Jonathan Balcombe and Marc Beckoff. Their work speaks to the biology of emotions, pleasure and shared traits that all mammals (in particular) have. I learned a lot about our place on Earth and our constructed hierarchies in regards humans at 'the top' and all other animals below. We are all wired in very similar ways, brain, CNS, reward and aversion bio-chemicals etc. I learned a lot about myself as well.
As humans we have been deeply socialised (culture, education, religion etc) to think in certain ways. The freeing up and inclusion of non-human animals into my circle of "us" and moving away from having any sense of "them as other' has helped me be much more compassionate and inclusive in the world. Less judgemental about people too. As I am living with a few MI's I can identify at some point... that we are a bag of bio-chemicals! 
And many of our responses etc are primed by our biology.
I have always sought to understand how it is I came to be the way I am, and while my lived experience - in family, in society, in work, relationships etc have hugely influenced my personality and who I am int he world - underneath all that is an understanding and a welcome fact that this human-animal, a social-primate who reacts and acts from biological imperatives... that is also are who I "am".
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*THE BOOKS
Marc Bekoff is a former Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and is a Fellow of the Animal Behavior Society and a past Guggenheim Fellow
Ignoring Nature No More: The Case For Compassionate Conservation
Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals
Animals Matter A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals With Compassion and Respect
The Emotional Lives of Animals
A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy - and Why They Matter
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Jonathan Balcombe has three biology degrees, including a PhD in ethology (the study of animal behavior) from the University of Tennessee,
Pleasurable Kingdom
Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good
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