Larni,
I'm a good person to ask about this because I'm a cogntive behavioural therapist by trade so I would say with confidence that I have observed many emotions in clients.
Would it not be more accurate to say that you observed your clients visible or audible reactions to the emotions they felt, and not the emotions themselves?
I can't help pointing out that I find it extremely humorous that you misspelled both cognitive and behavioral.
If you could point to the unobservable part of emotion I would be delighted.
Well, how about what the individual actually feels?
Again I'm a good person for this question because I have participated in studies where my very thoughts were in fact measured.
Your very thoughts or your brain activity?
As the energy spikes in areas of the brain (be it by electrochemical exchange or spikes in metabolism) when (say) we engage in directed thought we can conclude that thoughts have an energy component and therfore mass.
Well, if that activity is the actual thought itself and not a response to that thought..
I think it is fair to say that there is more than flesh and blood, but until you can detect the non-material (directly or indirectly) you can not conclude the non-material exists.
I think the emotion itself is non-material, the reactions this emotion sets off can be observed there by detecting the non-material. Sorry but the actual emotion itself can not be verified directly, can it?
The years tell what the days never knew.