What are feelings?

Feelings are senses that a conscience life form senses. It is a mechanism devised by nature/life/ that enables life forms to feel their surrounding, strive for pleasure in it and run away from dangers in it.

Feelings are actually crucial in making life life. Without feelings, life would be senseless and illogical. So, are feelings real? Of course they are real but they are only real when there is an experiencer or a sensor.

But why do we experience things the way we do? Is that the only way that they can be experienced? Meaning to say, is the sense of burning the only way that fire can be felt? Is sweetness the only way sugar can be fealt?

That most probably is not it. We feel to the tune of the way that is suitable and unsuitable, desirable and undesirable for life to exist in this realm. The extent at which we feel is also the extent at which the action done while feeling is good for our body's survival or bad for it. So it all depends on the sensitivity of the mechanism that nature gave us to be alive which is our body. 

The mechanism that make life exist or mechanisms like us can't exist in cases like extreme heat or cold and hence the feeling of burning and chill and thus discomfort. The differences and distinctions between feelings is for us/life forms to know exactly what is going on when we feel them. The comfort and discomfort which is generally the main objective of feeling is for our conscience or sub conscience to know whether what we are doing is suitable or unsuitable for life to continue its existence at its present form.