Often I got into trouble by acting on emotions.

Other times acting on emotions does not create any negative effect, but some pleasure.

But one cannot rise forward in life, by just acting or not acting on emotions. Emotions can often serve a warning post, as a sign of trouble or pleasure, but that is a primitive primordial system of notice, by following solely our emotions we become attached and limited by them - we suffer. One must rise above depending solely on it.

That's where reason comes, and especially intuition and calming down our mind, on a later stage of our mind evolution.

So yes the OP is somewhat correct in saying that emotions are a low form of consciousness. To many emotions are nothing more than an addictive self-gratifying pleasure-seeking drug. Just like food is.