Quote from Runningbear:
I have a theory about happiness. When you are actually happy, you don't realize it. It's only later when look back on those moments that you realize you were truly happy. So happiness is always past tense.
If you try to be happy now, you can't do it. So the secret to happiness is not trying to be happy. Good memories make us happy and to have good memories you need to do things that you'll look back on with pride and fondness.
So if you want be happy, do something that is memorable today. Build something. Create something. Travel. Explore. Climb a mountain. Have a kid. Challenge yourself in some way today. Then when you're old and your body is broken, you'll wake up in the morning, recall a life full of amazing moments and you will have a little giggle at all the crazy and beautiful things you did when you were younger. That's happiness.
And there is no happiness without the doing part. Depression is the psychological manifestation of wasted potential. Do something now. Anything. And you will come to discover what happiness really is.
Runningbear
I think happiness is divided as you say into the present self, and the remembering self.
The present self is "happy" when it is feeling no pain, no anxiety, is calm and peaceful, feels free and unencumbered but safe and secure, and is mildly but not overly stimulated. In other words, it is like a little baby.
The remembering self is happy when it feels a sense of accomplishment, progress, and "meaning" by reflecting on the past.
The present self therefore, I think, drives this yearning for material wealth. The more materials you can obtain, the more comfortable you will feel, i.e., less physical pain. You will also feel less anxious and more secure because you don't have to worry too much about how to feed, clothe, and shelter yourself and your family in the future. You will also feel free and unencumbered because you don't have to depend on anyone.
Often people fool themselves into thinking that material wealth can also satisfy the remembering self, but I believe that is not the case. The remembering self may value material possession because of what he or she went through to obtain those things (achievement, progress), and not the things themselves.
I believe materialism does not necessarily lead to an unhappy remembering self but it often does because so many of us spend too much time on it and spend little to no time on anything else. So I think if you don't set aside time to "create meaning" in your life, then your remembering self will be unhappy.