Emotion vs. Reason

“Art is dangerous, for its appeal to the irrational distracts from the legitimate claims of reason.”

According to Plato’s beliefs, we are apparently all born knowing the truths of the universe, but as we become more and more influenced and corrupted by society we lose these truths and are reduced to nothing more than mere imitators—craftsmen, or worse, emotional artists.  As we grow up, we become more inclined to give into our emotions; and when this is the case, our souls can never be privy to the truth.  Like a hazy dream, we may vaguely remember certain truths; but they’ll always be on the tip of our tongues, never fully articulated or understood. 

If this is the case, though, then why is it that no one (besides, in Plato’s opinion, true philosophers who are somehow above it all) can ever simply let go of all their emotions and base all actions and decisions off of pure untainted reason?

Socrates mentions, “The law says, doesn’t it, that it is best to keep as quiet as possible in misfortunes and not get excited about them?...human affairs aren’t worth taking very seriously…” 

True, I agree that one should never sulk over a misfortune for too long; but I do think it is necessary to reflect upon it--about what went wrong, why, how it could have been avoided or prevented in the future--, write in your journal, do whatever you must in order to get over it and move on. Otherwise, we’d all wind up with our emotions welling up inside and causing much more of a hassle in the long wrong. These so-called “human affairs,” if I am correctly interpreting Plato’s meaning of the term, however, seem to make up the bulk of our lives, so I don’t think that they can so easily be dismissed. I believe it’s  necessary to at least acknowledge your emotions—by no means allowing them to control your decisions or actions—and to then let reason have the rest of the say in the bulk of life’s affairs. 

With emotions and reason constantly at odds fighting one another for one to prevail, is it truly possible to ever be 100% controlled solely by reason, dismissing all of our emotions?