It is the contemplation of a thing that creates emotion.
And irrespective of how a feeling comes into being, its continued existence, sustenance, and growth depend on some sort of contemplation, mental or otherwise.
A pure consciousness does not in itself have any emotional power.
A subject has to be thought about, considered in some way.
The imagination has to be involved, and a structure has to be formed in the mind that is expressed as emotion.
It is over the process of contemplation that one has a degree of control, whereas the flash of Wisdom seems to overwhelm us.
The ability to consider something enables one to form an emotional relation to it.
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz