FEAR, EGO, and DEATH! The DARK SIDE of Spiritual AWAKENING in the Himalayas! with Adam Schomer

Adam Schomer 0:00
But one of the passes leading up to it, it's called rotang Pass, which means, like, pile of dead bodies. Like, are you really lost? Like, take, take a moment and look around like, Oh, you're also in the Himalayas at 12,000 feet in the stars. It's beautiful. And you're choosing to be like, Oh, to play into the I'm lost, in terms of the I'm alone and it's quiet in this gorgeous place. And if I really ground, I realize that you can't get lost. There's one path 80 year old woman in bare feet or in sandals hiking up and and you're right, all the gear, you know, right? You know, these are good riders. And India traffic was just day one accident, day two accident. I thought we were I really thought the trip was over early on.

Alex Ferrari 0:45
Your ego has to break down because it can't take on the Himalayas.

Adam Schomer 0:50
And the question is, do you want to hold that you know? Do you want to perceive like that? And can we have the superpower to change how we see ourselves?

Alex Ferrari 1:08
I like to welcome back to the show returning champion. Adam Schomer.

Adam Schomer 1:14
I got my ring or my beats. Yeah, my return.

Alex Ferrari 1:16
Exactly! So you're a returning champion, not to Next Level Soul, sir, but you were on my other show Indie Film Hustle years ago, where we talked about the filmmaking process of the actual story and adventure that you went on, which we will talk about today, which is your amazing, your amazing film and series, the highest pass and road to dharma. And when I was launching Next Level Soul TV. You were the first call I made. I like, I have to get these two projects on this plot. I mean, it's just a perfect match. I need that energy. I want that beautiful, that beautiful storytelling. I just wanted it on the platform and and you were, and you were so gracious to to allow us to have it on on the platform brother. So I, I appreciate you man!

Adam Schomer 1:59
Thank you. No, it's gonna be thought of that way, like in the in the conscious space and documentary space, to to be known a little bit, you know, and appreciate it. That's always feels good.

Alex Ferrari 2:08
Yeah, man. So with that, those those projects, were essentially about you and your yogi, which you don't hear often nowadays. You generally, you know, in the 60s and 70s, maybe the 50s, you would hear, you know, Maharishi and the Beatles and India and that kind of stuff, right? But, you know, to actually sit down with someone who has a yogi, has a guru, has a guru, and has had him for a while now, and he's been in your life for a long time, and then go on an adventure into the Himalayas on motorcycles, yeah, which you had never ridden at that point.

Adam Schomer 2:48
Never ridden at that point. I mean, mopeds. And poorly in, you know, mopeds in India, crashing them. That's why the kids at some of the schools, right? You're going on this ride with Anand like you can't even park the moped at our school.

Alex Ferrari 3:02
So, so, um, so your so your guru's name is, uh, Yogi Anand, right?

Adam Schomer 3:08
Anand, yes, Anand Mehrotra yes,

Alex Ferrari 3:11
Yes. And I've had him on the show twice before. I love Anand. He's, he's, he's just a profound, just profound amount of wisdom that comes from him,

Adam Schomer 3:21
And he's so relatable. Like, you know, we're friends too. You know, I consider my brother my friend, just relatable. So it's not so guru e in many ways, you know,

Alex Ferrari 3:29
Right! And can you before we jump into this insanity that you did? Can you talk about the guru student relationship? Because in the olden, in the olden traditions, you know, it was, you know, very much kind of like, I mean, you and I are of similar vintage, sir. So we watched a lot of car we watched a lot of martial art, Kung Fu theater on Sunday, Sunday afternoons on, yeah, back in the 80s. So, you know, you think of the Master, you know, you think of the student. And you know, it's like a hard, you know, the hard student, and again, beat you, and all that kind of stuff where you give, where you give your whole power away to the guru. And that's what it seems to be like the Olden ways of doing that. But it seems like your relationship with Anand is a little bit more modern. Can you explain what the traditional relationship is and what your relationship with your guru?

Adam Schomer 4:26
Yeah, absolutely. It's such a good question, because there's a lot of you know mistakes about what that is, that we are giving our power away, or that you're in a cult, or you're serving this or that. And there's so many cult movies nowadays that can make people scared of that, which is a bummer, right? Because there's so many good teachings so I can't do justice on the whole tradition of Guru student and explaining that, but I can say that the modern version, you know, Anand and I are friends. We are brothers, and I also look to him as a wise master. And teacher, and in many ways, Guru is meant to be a mirror, and they're meant to lead you to yourself, not to be your your guide in some way, but they're not your leader. You know, they're not telling you how to live. Anand is very with me, at least hands off steps in, kind of like a good soccer coach when you need the correction, but let the game do the playing. You know, that's to me. Athletics is a good way to think about it, like a coach where put people in the situations. And I used to coach soccer, I would create situations and games that are going to teach you the awareness. Oh, I gotta look to the right, to the left. I gotta be aware of everything that's going on so that I develop it on my own and know why I develop it, versus someone just intellectually telling you in a classroom, because it just doesn't work on the soccer field. And same with life, you know you need the experience. So Anand is very good at creating the experiences, letting life teach and letting the person be, you know the person they are. He's also a Vedic astrologer, so he knows people have different qualities and different times they're going to peak in different times they're ready for things that's really, really important as a teacher to know who can learn what when. So he's hands off in that way, and gives the nudges when need, or if you're off, you know, sets you straight in a good way, like a nice, you know, disciplined father or teacher or kung fu master, like, Hey, you're out of control, or bring it back down, or have some respect. And then maybe, like, you know, so there's that side of it, which I really love from the athletic side, like it was, let the experience do the teaching. But I could always ask him anything if I need to be. And when it comes to wisdom, for me, I always really resonated listening to him just on a in the moment level, like, oh, the teachings that are coming through right now. I'm I'm connecting to it. My energy is shifting at this moment too, and I know it's seeping in, but I will have to go apply it in life for to seep even deeper. So I would say that's the more modern relationship is. You don't have to follow them, you don't have to live with them. You take it and you go apply it in the world. That's just how we live. I think it's why he's also made the teachings more available, because just we need to apply it in our life, and people can, and it has to be, it can be less of a secret. You know, things can be less secret now. And the last thing I want to say is, of course, Yoda, you know, and Star Wars, right? If you have a Yoda back there, there,

Alex Ferrari 7:30
Ofcourse I, I always have a little Yoda somewhere on my sets, on my live set, there's a Yoda on this set. There's a Yoda and my computer, there's, there's always a Yoda, because Yoda is for our generation. Yes, the idea of the Guru, the master, someone who is so beyond evolved and so high frequency and so found enlightenment, wise beyond their years. I mean, Yoda is the perfect encapsulation of that

Adam Schomer 7:59
Perfect I think that's probably why I always, in some way, wanted that too, in my life, from from Yoda, like, wouldn't you want to go visit a master? And Yoda wasn't with Luke all the time, except in spirit, right? You can tap into it, if you want to. He's there, and I feel the same. You can tap into the Masters, right, the Ascended Masters, or just in the in general, you can tap into but Luke goes, gets teachings, and then goes out and has his adventure and learns. I mean, it's, you know, they knocked it out of the park with Star Wars. And I think that's, that's the modern Yoda is kind of the modern yogi, if Yeah, or the modern guru, if you ask me, yeah,

Alex Ferrari 8:34
Absolutely, absolutely. There's no question. I mean, there's many that, I mean, just listen to the wisdom that George wrote out that some of the lines that he, you know, be Do or do not, there is no try and all these kind of, like, very powerful he goes, that's impossible. That's why you fail. You know, these very great, these kind of deep, deep things mixed into a sci fi movie.

Adam Schomer 8:59
But impossible is a good, like real good segue to what we did, because it really If, on the on the surface, you know, riding motorcycles in those Himalayas, not knowing how to ride is impossible in some ways, right? And I felt that way. And to jump forward after making that, after doing that pilgrimage, I felt, in many ways, oh, I can do anything, not that I'm not afraid of anything, but I can do anything, because I know when push comes to shove, I will transcend that fear. I found it myself where I can go beyond it, and I face death, and I will have to face death many times. We just it doesn't end, but it inspired a lot of faith and a lot of confidence to take that pilgrimage, which is why we do them.

Alex Ferrari 9:44
So before we jump into the insanity of Road to Dharma and going up and going up into the Himalayas with a yogi on a motorcycle and you've never ridden before, how did you find like? How does one find a guru? How does one. Find a yogi. I'm sure there's many that say it online, I'm a yogi. Please send money. I am a guru. I I will say, I will say, if you follow me, by the way, anyone says that, run away, because a guru will never say that. A real guru and a real yogi, a real teacher, will help you find the truth and the power within yourself. If that's the way, they never say I am the way. If you hear somebody say, I am the way, or I am above you. And in another way, it's something that, for me, it's a kind of alarms going off where, if you go to, yeah, if you go to a master, they are obviously at a different place in the journey than you, not above you or below you, just at a different place. Just like, you know, my kids, I'm a I have a head start on them, you know. So I, you know, I am not above them in many ways. They are wiser than me in many ways, and they teach me things all the time.

Adam Schomer 10:57
And you know that the whole like, you know, people think of the whole bowing to a guru, touching their feet, and that would scare people, and it would scare me, you know, but before I knew that's really when you're doing that you're asking, may you're touching their feet because you're saying, may I have access to the experience that you have, the path you've walked, the many experiences you had. So you touched their feet to say, may I access that wisdom? Not I bow to you and I give my life to you. Below you, you're asking, and I think that's cool, like, just because, because that way you can interact with the world and the universe, like, hey, help me out here. I'm not subservient to the universe. I'd like to, you know, help me out here. Give me some wisdom from your experience universe that can help me on this journey, because we're co creating it. You know, if I think we're playing correctly, we're co created.

Alex Ferrari 11:48
So how did you How does one find a guru sir?

Adam Schomer 11:50
Yeah, I do not know. Okay, first of all, I'm not going to tell anyone how to do it. I didn't write the book. www, yeah, find a guru for dummies. And I definitely wasn't looking one thing early. You know, a pitfall I avoided early on is in my 20s, I was searching for the answer for the equation. Call it Einstein or and I realized the equation I was looking for was so that I would know how to act in any situation. And so then you unravel that, and you're like, Oh, well, what is that? Oh, well, it's a form of perfection, or doing it right, or not wanting to be vulnerable or fail. And it's like, well, that's a fruitless, you know, drop that. So looking for the equation or the way to be was actually just fear I would, I would think so I dropped the idea of, like, one equation or One Ring to rule them all, because that's, you know, if you look at a glory to the rings that causes problems, slide a little bit. Burn that ring, burn that idea. So when I dropped that Pitfall, I think I was less looking for a guru or looking for an answer, or someone to save me, which we can talk a little bit more when we talk superheroes like saviors. But I ended up moving from Detroit to LA. I'll cut some of the story down, but in the entertainment world, writing and all that stuff, came to LA to further that my acting teacher that I met was also taking people to India, and at one point it clicked. It just clicked. I was like, Oh my gosh. When I was three, I had an Indian neighbor. I grew up with the smells of India. She actually cured cancer herself, which is amazing. I think back, you know, some of the films I made heal, and you're like, Whoa. That's interesting, that I got fed that at three, that that was possible. And then one of my great friends I met in seventh grade as an Indian grunt thick, and he's still one of my best friends. And then one of my best friends in improv comedy, Chokshi, was Indian. And I go, okay, India has just been around me. I've always been drawn to and I read Gandhi's book. So it clicked. I said, Oh, I gotta go. Because at first I was like, I don't want to travel with 15 actors to India. This sounds like horrible, you know, like the most dramatic thing you could do, and it ended up being a freaking blast, you know. Like, it's like, great, like, you know, just fun people, you know, in India that are interested in themselves. So we had a great time. But that she brought me to a knot. He was the Co leader at the time, and so I just really got to know him in a very kind of organic, just nice way, like just sitting talking to him about his family and and, and then I realized, wow, his teachings are very clear. And eventually I dropped the acting teacher. She was a little bit out there. And, you know, not the, not the best person, but I stuck with it. Stuck with Anand. You know, we learned some things, and you're like, Oh, she's in a little manipulative and a little cultish, and eventually asked him if I could go study that one I want. So this, you know, leading into guru Ness. I think at that point when I said, Can I come just be in Rishikesh with you? And this was in 2009 I believe no. This would be 2007 yet 2000 Nine. And so I stayed about six weeks, one on one with Anand, like every morning, meditating at the Ganga River at 5:30am doing yoga on the beach, having Chai with the, you know, with the guys by the bridge, just the locals, reading a newspaper, just very, you know, just talking wisdom, recording what he would say, and then I would write what he say. So this is like, Mr. Miyagi type Karate Kid, paint the fence. I'd listen to what he said. I would record it, and then I would go write it as if writing a book. I would transcribe it, and it would just like, really start to dip in. And so it was at the end of that I would say, during that trip, where I really was like, Okay, this, you know, this is my teacher, right? So to speak. I don't know if I was using the word guru at that point, but it didn't really matter. I was like, this is a sacred relationship. And so when he asked, Would you like to go to the Himalayas over the highest road in the world on motorcycles, even though I didn't know how to ride and everything in me was like, This guy's gonna kill you. I really felt that, like he had a prophecy he would die in his 20s, and he was in that age, and I was thinking, Oh, my God, he's trying to sacrifice me so that he doesn't have to live his profit. You know, all the stories I could seriously, the mind goes crazy places Alex.

Alex Ferrari 16:17
Yeah, you're in your film, and you're a filmmaker and a creative artist as well. So your storytelling in your own head. You're like, he's gonna sign me to the to the Himalayas.

Adam Schomer 16:27
Absolutely. That's a very plausible and if I make the, you know, the narrative version, that's what it's gonna go for. But I said, Yes. Anyway, I remember, I mean, it's, you know, so clear, like slow motion. I remember making my lips move. And I said, Just say yes. Man, say yes. This is Himalayas with a master sacred sites. Come on like you have to say yes. So I made myself say yes. And then after that, you know, let the fear come in for the the many months after that, in the lead up to the journey,

Alex Ferrari 16:58
That's amazing, man, all right, so you so Anand says, Hey, let's go into the Himalayas on motorcycles. I want to ask you, man, because you've never written motorcycles before the Himalayas. When people watch the with the series and the film, they will understand that it is not a paved road.

Adam Schomer 17:18
Generally speaking, nothing is really paved, you know, really

Alex Ferrari 17:22
Right, so, and it's treacherous, it's dangerous, and it's and you're going to the highest road in the world, and it's when I use the word road, it's very loosely. It's using that word road very loosely. You're also not only going you and anon. It's a group of you, and all of you have never done anything like this. So it was this giant group before you walked in, you kind of already knew what was going to happen. You already knew that this was going to be a difficult challenge. How did you overcome the fear, man? Because so many people would just say, are you insane? I would never do that.

Adam Schomer 17:54
Yeah. In fact, you know, I told I showed Paul rise, or this just to, like, name drop, you know, Paul, right? And at one point he said, You're either really stupid or really brave, one of the two. And I'm like, I think it's a little both. On some level, there has to be a little ignorance or little innocence stupidity to do something like this, to not know what is coming, right? It's helpful to not know how crazy the traffic is in India, even though I had seen it is helpful because it's the traffic is probably the crazy is the hardest thing, and the sheer cliffs and all that, but overcoming fear. No, I don't think I, I did for sure, in the lead up, I didn't, my mind was like we were talking about was doing all the stories he's trying to kill me. I'm gonna go sliding off the cliff. One of the passes is called rotang. This is where the internet is terrible, because I look up, oh, one of the you know, a pass is a mountain pass, right? And again, the highest pass in the name of the film is the highest road pass at 18,600 feet. But one of the passes leading up to it, it's called rotang Pass, which means, like pile of dead bodies. That is what it translates. And, you know, this is just not helpful. You know, back in the in the valley where I was living in Los Angeles, pile of dead bodies. So you just keep seeing yourself fall. And it's the wrong thing that's to keep thinking and seeing. It's fear. I just keep seeing myself flying off a cliff. So by no means was I overcoming it, but, but as Anand says, in that in that journey, have more love than fear. So there was enough desire. There was enough knowing this is good for me. There was enough love faith, I'll be okay to overcome that fear, if you will. So to like, like a, like a rocket ship, you know, you gotta get a Pierce gravity. You gotta be just a little more than gravity. But this at the beginning, the rocket ship is going pretty slow, but that's a ton of force to just start doing that. So there's a lot of work and a lot of effort to just be a little bit above the fear. So I think people should reckon. Is that if, even if you're really, really afraid of something, but you're still taking a movement, even if slow, that's a ton of force, that is a lot of effort, that has a lot of energy, and eventually you start to break the hold of gravity and get a little bit, you know, farther and farther into the journey, and the fear becomes less as okay, we gain the experience we've been through the pile of dead bodies pass. You know, we've been through the road killer traffic. And I watched people that were experienced motorcyclists getting hit by trucks, you know, in our group, in our group of seven people going down. And I'm thinking, if they're going down like we're toast, I'm toast. You know, these are good riders in India. Traffic was just day one, accident. Day two, accident. I thought we were, I really thought the trip was over early on,

Alex Ferrari 20:47
Really? So when you were, one thing that was really interesting, watching the watching the story unfold, is that a lot of the, a lot of the people in the group you know, were some of the some of them were a little bit, I think, they didn't really understand what they were getting into. And they and the pressure of the situation, and this happens to all of us in life, the pressure of the situation starts to really wear down on you, to the point where you start snapping at people, or you start because you're afraid you're this or that. Um, but I love What Anand, Anand, like, as a good teacher, a good guru, would do. He slapped, like, slapped them around, not physically, but like they were just like, we're not here for yoga. We're not here to, you know, we're here to transcend. Yeah, and this is not a fun process. It was such a powerful statement, because so many people in the spiritual space, people who are searchers, people are seekers, are looking for they're looking for enlightenment, but they don't want to go through the piles of dead bodies

Adam Schomer 22:01
The piles of dead bodies.

Alex Ferrari 22:04
The path. They don't want to go through the hardship. They just want to wake up and be Buddha or be Jesus or be Yogananda, or be someone who has found enlightenment and go, Oh, I am now enlightened. I can now teach all of you. It's that's not what that is. Every one of those masters had to go through a lot of hardship to get to the place they were going to. So I thought it was such a power. It was such a powerful statement. Can you talk a little bit about what you saw on the ground? Because I know you didn't film every second that you were there. So what were the things going on that were not in the actual show and movie that you started to see behind the scenes, just like people's people's psyches breaking down. Because you're literally breaking down their ego, you're breaking down things, and that's not a fun process!

Adam Schomer 22:52
Yeah and I mean, those specific quotes are from, you know, road to dharma for the most part, which, you know, little different journey just as intense to these sacred sites by that time, I knew how to ride a little bit, but there were people that were new to writing. And just like you said, just like wanting to feel better, you know, so to speak, wanted it all to be rosy or yogic. So the road to dharma, we were able to show quite a bit more, I would say, because it's a 10 episode thing, you know. And that was cool that we could do that some of the things we couldn't show were some people having real cathartic crying breakthroughs. And there were moments when anon would be like, hey, you know, turn the camera off. This is about this person's breakthrough right now, you know. And for for the camera, you know, a bit of me is in pain, but you just go, that's, it's, it's one story. This is one. This is a person's life, you know, and they need to be able to have the freedom to just go for it and dive in. So there were some things like that with Jen in episode three of the road to dharma, where we're going up actually, just say we're going up K darnath, which is this amazing hike to 12,000 feet from 5000 feet, and it's so difficult, like 10 hours of just straight up at altitude, and it brings up everything. And she just, just was bawling by the end, with a non and we couldn't film, and I would have loved to. And then the thing, like, one of the things in in the highest pass, was that the crew was really turning on me and turning on, I couldn't imagine they were, you know, it was, it's like, really cool her, you know, storytelling, so to speak, that these things were happening. So we get to this past bar Alachua. So after rotang pass after the pile dead bodies comes by Alachua, and it ended up being closed. And because of snow, you know, we go up there and the generals. So I go up there with Part of the Crew. Okay, I go up there with one camera guy, one audio guy, and my co director and the generals are I can. Know, it's closed, right? And then anon comes down, says, we're going tomorrow, even though it's closed, like, doesn't really tell everybody that it's closed, you know? So the crew is turning to me going, like, what the heck is going on? So they definitely came at me, because one of the crew members, which we didn't show in the in had to go home because the altitude sickness. Because of that, we go up to the talk to the general at 16,000 feet, because of his exposure on that day, got altitude sickness. We had to send him back to a hospital and then fly him back. So we luckily had a second audio person. And luckily, of course, my friend Andy was okay, and he's an amazing sounding, you know, designer here in Los Angeles, and it took him a little while to recover, but, so that's something we didn't show but then the crew really did, basically, they're okay. I think Anand is trying to is going to get us hurt. You know, he's really, this is really irresponsible. And that came to me not to Anand. They were too afraid to say that to Anand, right? This is the kind of fun part, like someone as a student, fellow students will come to you and express their fear, and that's your choice to take it on or not, but they would never say it to Anand, right, similar to Rhoda Dharma, there's some things. He even says it during there. He's like, do you think she would have that lady at breakfast would have said that in front of me, and the guy goes, no, he's like, exactly, that's where you have to stand. You have to stand up for yourself. And so that I remember having to, you know, like, stand there in front. I lined the whole crew up, and I just kind of bitched him out. Like a, like a, like a soccer coach, would, you know, I was just like, step it up. All right, just, let's go. We're going on this thing. You're not gonna die like this. I need you and grab a sack or whatever. You know, I don't know what I can say on this podcast, but it was just the whole, like, rah, rah football kind of halftime speech to the crew, like, you're not gonna die, and let's do this. Let's freaking Do you can't show fear. Think about the people on the motorcycles. Let's go. But you know, the crews not didn't sign up necessarily, for, hey, I want to come have a transcendent pilgrimage. They signed up to make a film. So at one point they're going, I'd rather not die, and I didn't say I wanted to, you know, so when you sign up to do a film with Adam Schomer, like, watch out. You know, this is, I tell everyone, no matter how non dangerous it is, like you're gonna go through something, and it's not me trying to. It's just kind of like, what happens?

Alex Ferrari 27:34
So what did you, what were the biggest things, breakthroughs that you had on both of those trips, the first one in the highest pass, and wrote to dharma like, what were the the breakthroughs that you had, uh, spiritually and mentally and everything,

Adam Schomer 27:50
Yeah. And there's no like, specific moments, because it is so intense the whole time. There's no like, oh, aha, right there. It's just, especially on those pilgrimages, it's so intense. There's it's hard to almost catch up with what's happening, but it's all coming in and processing. But I definitely walked away with this deep level of faith. And I don't mean belief. I don't mean belief in something, or even belief myself, just faith that, that it's not like anything works out, just faith that I come through no matter what. And I think that would apply to death and everything, like we come through like we do, like we're okay and and we have to live like that. You can't be riding with fear. You really can't. After a while that becomes really clear, like, if you're afraid and stressed for 12 hours on a motorcycle straight, your body will reject you, your shoulders will reject you, your system will reject like you're in trouble. And then, specifically, there was a moment we were riding at night getting toward Manali, so we're like 12-14, hours into a riding day, and we're trying to get to Manali, which is the gateway to the Himalayas. And we're riding at night and in India, first of all, you know, again, concrete here and there. Of course, there's streets, but it's worse than that, because it's potholes everywhere, and cows and dirt and mud. So it would almost be better if it was all dirt, because then, you know, but it's just sporadic, so you're always having to look around. And then when it gets dark, you can't see any of that, because there's no street lights, really. And then what happens is, the lights coming at you from the other cars are just blinding. So what happens you get this blinding light? You don't know which way the road turns, etc. So there was absolute moments, and I'm not like exaggerating, where I said, Oh, I'm about to die. I know that I'm about to get hit head on at any moment, because this is, you know, half hour an hour of this. And do I want to die stressed and afraid? So, you know, straight question in my head, like, and I go, No, I don't want to die like this. And I go, then let go. All right, you know, okay, then, then if I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go at peace. And here we go and, and it's just like, and if you look back, it's probably inches at times that you're, you're going by a fellow car on on the road in the middle of the middle of the night, and I get a little emotional even saying it, because it really is like, at that moment, okay, I could be gone, and that's that. So that was a huge, huge takeaway, like, I do not want to die afraid and stress, so I'm going to choose otherwise.

Alex Ferrari 30:35
I think it sounds like you letting go of the fear, because you truly the situation that you put yourself in just was a, it was kind of a perfect situation to either you have the choice, either stress yourself out and you're in, it's you're not going to make it. You just won't make it because the situation's so difficult, kind of like a Navy SEALs, you know, held, yeah, those two weeks like you can't, you can't fight it, because the obstacle is so massive in front of you, your ego has to break down because it can't take on the Himalayas. It can't take on this journey. So you have to release and let go. And when you let go, that's where the power is, and that's where the freedom is. And it sounds like that's what you agree, is that what kind of we went

Adam Schomer 31:23
Absolutely, absolutely the freedom is there in the letting go? Yeah, for absolutely, absolutely,

Alex Ferrari 31:28
But it was forcing, but it's but it's forcing you to let go. It's not like you.

Adam Schomer 31:32
It's forcing you to make a choice. It's forting you, forcing you to make a choice, that's for sure, because it becomes really clear after a while, the in our daily life, we can get away with stress, and it might not hit us. Maybe it hits us later in life with chronic illness, but day after day, you know, on a motorcycle, you feel it like, Oh my God, and the constant thought, and you're like, enough of that thought already. It's in my helmet. I don't want to keep thinking that same fearful pile of dead bodies. I'm going up enough and you just like, slap your ego in the face and say, shut up. We're going to enjoy the ride a bit. So it forces you to choose. It forces you to either stress out and die, quit or let go like you have. You do have three options, basically.

Alex Ferrari 32:19
So let me ask you,

Adam Schomer 32:21
Pilgrimage, yeah, yes. Is what pilgrimage does.

Alex Ferrari 32:24
It does. There was, I forgot who wrote it, um Paolo Coelho, who wrote The Alchemist, which are my favorite books of all time. He also wrote a book. I think it was, it was about his it was about his pilgrimage. I forgot the name of it, something mangy or something. But it was, it was and it was this journey, this massive journey. It was through, uh, this very legendary pass in Spain, like you, like you have to, like this all

Adam Schomer 32:50
Might have been called the pilgrimage. It might have been called the pilgrimage.

Alex Ferrari 32:52
I think, I think it was the pilgrimage. Yeah, it's kind of like their Appalachian Trail, like this, like insane thing to try to walk or hike or go through it, and all the adventures he went through, what you went through was very similar the pilgrimage itself, generally speaking, or the journey itself teaches you, anyone who travels anywhere, even on vacation, there is a level of, you know, depending on vacation, obviously. But if you go to Europe or you go to India, you go to China, you go to Japan. Yeah, a little bit, yeah. If you're out of your box, you're going to be challenged, just by the nature of the journey. But you went into an environment that it sounds like in the Himalayas are so magical, so mythical, because of not only their beauty, but there's so much wisdom, so many stories told, especially in the Vedic traditions, the yogic philosophy, philosophies and traditions, legends of you know, Baba Ji, living in the Himalayas still to this day and these kind of things, but it sounds like the Himalayas themselves are the tool. Are a tool to find enlightenment in yourself. It helps you evolve. By the pure nature of what it is. You can't go into the Himalayas and go up 18, 19,000 feet, 20,000 feet, whatever it is, without stuff happening to you. Man like on an emotional standpoint, on a spiritual standpoint, on a psychological standpoint, you're going to be challenged. It's kind of, I'll use the Navy SEALs again like you show up on Hell Week. You are not the same human being at the end. Even if you quit, you won't be the same human being that you did when you walked in. But just the nature of the Himalayas themselves are it's kind of like the gauntlet. Would you agree?

Adam Schomer 34:40
I totally agree, yeah, and it's got a force that's supporting you in many ways, challenging you, but, like it is kind of a nurturing, harshly nurturing, but it's saying, Come on, rise up with us. You know, it's been the hotbed of yogic thought for so long. You know, Tibet and the Buddhists teachings? And the yogic teaching, it's, it's all there. So in some ways, like the environment is already lifting you up to that frequency. It's already saying, Come on, you know, you can do it, versus maybe, you know, some other climates or other areas aren't, you know, Florida might not be the best place. And I don't it's nothing against Florida. It's just like, it's more like swampy, you know, it's just a more tamasic, slow kind of vibe versus the Himalayas. It's cold, it's jagged, it's got the the wisdom, it's got the thought. So it inspires you to go there, and for sure, challenges you, that's for sure. So, yeah, you can feel that there as soon as you it's my first time that I got to the snowy part of the Himalayas, I wanted just to walk in and just go and just disappear. It was pulling me, you know, it has that. It's, yeah, it's, you know, it's consciousness. There's consciousness there.

Alex Ferrari 35:55
Did you on your journey through the Himalayas? Did you find those kind of, those caves that people meditate in, and you know those areas that did you find travelers? Did you find pilgrims? You know, kind of searching, doing a walk about, if you will, in trying to find themselves in the Himalayas.

Adam Schomer 36:14
Oh, absolutely, absolutely. And of course, there's caves everywhere. There's caves in Rishikesh, you know where Anand grew up, there that people have meditated in for 40 years. And you know that yogis went silent, that Anand himself was silent in for three months. But yeah, through, especially in the road to dharma, where we were going to certain we went to kdarnath, which is a pilgrimage site. Everyone you're walking by is on a pilgrimage. So, yeah, so 80 year old woman in bare feet or in sandals, hiking up and, and you're right, all the gear, you know, right, yeah. And you go, okay, they're doing it too, and with a lot less, and they're just like, This is what I've always wanted to do in my life. Is this pilgrimage. So, yeah, you know for sure, same with when we went to, what was it? Well, anyway, anyway, we went to three, other three other can't believe, I can't remember the names of some of them, but toganoth, oh my gosh, toganoth as well. Geez, there's a photo of it right behind that's tongue, not right there behind me. I still, still keep the photos of the Himalayas. Yeah, pilgrimage, pilgrims everywhere, and it's especially in India. It's a good reminder, because it's a lot of very simple, dedicated pilgrims, old people that just wanted to do this, young people, less so, like travelers, per se,

Alex Ferrari 37:36
There's nothing casual about it. You can't gradually just go and chill out and like, I'm gonna go see the Himalayas. Like, I'm gonna go to the, you know, the the Caribbean islands or something. It's like, that's not a thing. Like, you go there, it's a thing. It's a challenge. There's no, there's no five star resort anywhere around there.

Adam Schomer 37:57
No, yeah. Like, Kid iron out there. Like, you, you walk from from 5000 to 12,000 when you get up there, it's basic lodging, but there is lodging. And one of the girls I remember was scared because she was lost at the top. And anon is, like, first of all, how can you get lost? It's, there's one town at the top, you know, that's, that's it. It's like a five square block town. Like, are you really lost? Like, take, take a moment and look around like, Oh, you're also in the Himalayas at 12,000 feet and the stars, it's beautiful. And you're choosing to be like, Oh, to play into the I'm lost, in terms of the I'm alone, and it's quiet in this gorgeous place. And if I really ground, I realize you can't get lost. There's one path, you know, and then there's a small town with some basic lodging, you'll find us. It's not that big, but, but, you know, when fear comes up, like we were saying earlier, we drift off and tend to to play into it, versus maybe play into our staying power.

Alex Ferrari 38:58
You know, when I whenever I've been in nature, especially in mountain ranges. And, you know, I lived in California, like you do for a long time, and I went to a lot of the national parks. And you go to Yosemite, or you go to Muir Woods, and it's almost it you feel the energy of nature there. What was the energy like in the Himalayas? Or were you just so I just want to survive this, that you didn't feel anything. I don't want to die today. I'm not feeling the vibes.

Adam Schomer 39:30
No, no, no. Once when you're in the Himalayas, you're in the Himalayas, and then the traffic, kind of, you know, in terms of motorcycling, the traffic is less because there's, you're on roads, you're, you're in a high plateau at that point of 11,000 feet and above. And then you're going over different passes, but and then there's wild horses, you know, at one point, we did get to see them at 15,000 feet. And how magical. So, yeah, you're, it's total awe. And you know, mountain lakes and I. Monastery. So it's, it's another world. It's definitely another it's other worldly feeling. And I mean, I don't know, I just love, I love those monasteries, and I can sit by a Buddhist statue and somehow just be really taken away by it and connect to it. So for me, I just love it. I feel, I feel at home there. It's again, none of it's very comfortable, because it's all always kind of a cold, simple place.

Alex Ferrari 40:29
Yeah, it's holy all year long, but all year long, it's like that, pretty much

Adam Schomer 40:33
Up there where the highest passes up in ladoc. It's Yes, yes. You can only really go from June to, let's say, October, in terms of flying in there. I mean, you that's when people go, because otherwise it's really, really cold, but it's warm enough during the warm season where you can go, but, yeah, it's absolutely inspiring. I mean, the Himalayas, you know, it's, it's beautiful, it's beautiful nature and it's beautiful spirit. So it's a nice mix. It's not like a ski town, which is great, too. You know what I mean. But it's not like they've done that. They haven't, like, created a ski town there in the high Himalayas for industry. Yes, there's a little tourism and a little bit of hiking and things. But for the most part, it's Wow. This is where a lot of the Tibetans have come and, you know, in exiles to Ladakh in that area to lay, and it's the best. And of course, these temples that are at high, high altitudes, it's only people that want to really connect with spirit. It's so that that's helpful.

Alex Ferrari 41:30
So so for people who don't know what kind of philosophies, religions, spiritualities, you encounter, because it doesn't seem like it's you know, you're not, you're not catching a Catholic church up there. You're not getting a mosque up there. Or do or are you like? What are the different like? Because you said Tibetan, so is it Buddhism? Are we talking about confucism? Are we talking about yogic philosophies, Vedic Hindu what are we what did you pass? What did you experience up there?

Adam Schomer 41:58
Yeah, I would say that, you know the Buddhists, for sure, up in Ladakh, it's Tibetan Buddhism, you know, very, very heavily, which, to me, is all based in the yoga thought. So it's all the same source. But you might have different gods and goddesses than you have in you in yoga, but like, they're the same, you know, different names, right? Green, Tara and Lakshmi or whatever. So all feels very familiar there. There was some, there was some other faith. A little bit, he sprinkled in there. But no, no church per se, but, you know, like, like an awake like behind you in Yogananda, like he, he integrated Jesus and things like that. So there were a few places where you might see Jesus or a couple other prophets, yeah, but it's very Tibetan Buddhism, which is great, you know, because they're hard to be in Tibet nowadays. So you get like a little Tibet feeling.

Alex Ferrari 42:55
And on a side note, just from being in India as many times as you have Adam, it's a true that Jesus is really kind of renowned as a master Yogi in that culture? Like, is it some like they it's like a great prophet or something like that that you've seen,

Adam Schomer 43:12
I can't say that. Like the general population of India thinks that? No, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's recognized, yes, absolutely. And I mean, most people, I can't forget, most people and forget, I'm not a theologian, but a lot of people recognize that Jesus may have come to India and studied, sure, and then returned. So he definitely, he definitely pops up. He's around, you know, he's around, and yes, yes, recognized. But the religion is a little less, for sure, less prevalent, but so many religions in India, yeah, but mainly you're encountering the yogic, yogic religion or so, as we can do, is kind of the wrong word, but that's what we go by

Alex Ferrari 43:58
Now. But the big question is, did you run into Baba Ji while you were there, did you? Did you say hi to Baba so

Adam Schomer 44:08
Every I'll give you a picture. Was in many places yeah.

Alex Ferrari 44:12
For everyone listening who doesn't know who Babaji is? Babaji is a yogi, a yogi, the master yogi of all masters, of masters, essentially, according to Yogananda, and is still living in the Himalayas still traveling. He's been alive for, I think he said in the autobiography of Yogi 2500 years. And you know, he worked with Jesus, he worked with Buddha, he worked with all of them, and helped the situation. And he's still around today. And there are mythical stories of people running into him in the in the Himalayas. So I just had to ask. I mean, you were running around, I imagine you went into him.

Adam Schomer 44:47
Yeah, of course, we hung out, but he wouldn't let me feel he wouldn't sign the release

Alex Ferrari 44:57
Or the non disclosure.

Adam Schomer 44:59
Yeah, it's. So I have all the footage. Next time you're here, I'll show you. Okay, feelings of Baba Ji. But no, I never saw like a apparition.

Alex Ferrari 45:08
No, I'm joking. I know. I didn't think people do.

Adam Schomer 45:11
A lot of people do. No, a lot. I mean, it's not. It may sound far fetched, but it's really not like that question is actually a very real question, because many people do report like, Oh yes, I, I, Baba Ji came to me in some form, be it in dream or in spirit. So not that strange of a question. I don't think nowadays,

Alex Ferrari 45:31
Adam, what was the biggest lesson you learned in this, that whole journey, man, I mean, when you came back and you've, I mean, it's been years now since you did, I mean, you did this in 2012 you released the show in or 2012 right? Or 2013 something like that.

Adam Schomer 45:45
2012 was Road to Dharma. We did that. Yeah. And then 2009 10, 9, 9-10, 2010 was the highest pass.

Alex Ferrari 45:55
Right! And then, and then you released it only a few years ago, like right before the pandemic, around the pandemic, so you've had a long time to digest that experience, and I'm sure you've thought about it endlessly for years, probably thinking about the lessons you've learned along those journey. What's the biggest takeaway you got from from going into the Himalayas with a yogi on a motorcycle, never having driven a motorcycle before?

Adam Schomer 46:21
I you know, the biggest takeaway, not because I'll just go current, because that's what's up for me, is that we are all gonna die, and not in a poltergeist way. You remember when that guy was you're all gonna die as a kid to watch that freaky, but no, in a good way, like we're all gonna die, so let's come to terms with it. Let's like riding a motorcycle and facing, you know, the traffic, let's let go a bit of our stress. Do I wanna when I pass? Do I wanna hold on to the angers? Do I wanna hold onto the resentments? So that tells me maybe I am holding on some anger and resentment or guilt or something like that that I need to let go of, because death then helps me look at it more head on and say, Well, if you're going to die today, do you want to hold that? Okay no, because otherwise we can skirt along with it just being there. So I find it as a good takeaway. You know, if we're to pass away. Very soon, we're all gonna die. Like, then what are you holding on to now that you just don't want to take on to the next life? You know, like, I joke the other day on meditation, it's like, hey, there's baggage fees when you die. You know what I mean, like luggage fees. So, so, you know, just take a carry on. So drop the other crap and take only the essential, you know, take the teachings, take the wisdom. But, oh, resentments and angers. And I wish it would have went that way, or I should have finished that. And I wish I would have, you know what done like. So if we can live a little more, so for me, if I can integrate that a little more quickly. When I see stuff come up, things I'm holding on to that, that idea of like death right now, that's very helpful, at least right right now. It seems like it's helped for me at this moment, because I'm because I'm in the film world, it's like dying every day. Trying to release a movie is like dying every day. So yeah.

Alex Ferrari 48:28
Oh, my God. True, words have never been spoken, sir, words have never been spoken. The the journey of an independent filmmaker is is a brutal one, almost as brutal as going into the Himalayas.

Adam Schomer 48:44
For the ego, it's very it's very humbling.

Alex Ferrari 48:47
Oh my, oh God. And you've been doing it for a few years now, so you must have no ego at this point.

Adam Schomer 48:53
I cannot. I can't, I can't agree with that, but I'm working on it.

Alex Ferrari 48:59
So, um, so I wanted to also talk about your your new project, selling Superman. Now, selling Superman is unlike anything I've ever seen, because I'm a I'm a comic book geek. Have been since I was a kid. I collect I've collected comics for most of my adult life, even maybe a decade, that I just had them in my closet, and really didn't, you know, once you have kids, it's a lot harder to have that conversation with the wife, like I need to buy this $500 comic book. You know that that's a harder conversation to have back in the day, but it's always been a love of mine. And this, can you tell everybody about the this amazing story of selling Superman. And what I love about it, before we before you jump in, is the you snuck in, the spirituality you snuck in, this deep thought, this deep reflection of why we collect and why we do these kind of things in our. Life. It was so and when I saw it, I'm like, oh, Adam, didn't did this. There's nobody else on the planet who could have done this film like because anyone else would have shot it straight. It's a story about this, this and this. But then as as the story, I'm like, Oh, I can smell your stank being thrown all around it. I was like, oh, there it is. There it is, everywhere. The spiritual stank you put over it, right? Tell everybody Selling Superman's about,

Adam Schomer 50:24
Yeah, the hook is that there was this 40 year family secret collection of comic books the father had been hoarding, but made everyone not talk about it. So it really was a 40 year family secret. And when he passed, then the son inherits this, and he inherits much more than 300,000 comic books and a Superman number one, you know, at 7.0 value, that's $3 million he really inherits and unboxes his grief, his trauma, the way the father treated all of them, he has to kind of go through it. It forces him to look at and reveal to all of us this whole traumatic past of what a collector and a man who it's not all collectors, but man who's fixated and obsessive and doesn't give love to his family and is a perfectionist, how that affects, you know, the family and so, on some level, it's this cool pop culture, you know, comic Book. What do you do with an amazing holy grail treasure? And then the other side of it, it's this really deep family portrait where we're looking at conditioning, and how we're all conditioned by our family. And God, can you see it on the main character? It's just so, so it's really easy to relate. And go, Yeah, I'm conditioned too. And and then ultimately, you know, this is where my hand is there, right? My stank, as you say, my incense, my Patchouli is all over. Is. The question is like, do we want to? Do we want to, you know, do we want to hold that story of ourselves that we inherited from our family? You know, the father was really telling his son like he's not good enough, over and over. And if you want to battle me, you better be over prepared. And that's turned into a very stressed out anxiety style of living, or style of being. And the question is, do you want to hold that you know? Do you want to perceive like that? And can we have the superpower to change how we see ourselves and really value ourselves? And the value idea gets us right back into valuing comic books, valuing your family, valuing your time and and that's, again, a sleight of hand in there, the spiritual nature of myself asking people to inquire like, what's important to you actually.

Alex Ferrari 52:34
What's What's brilliant about the the series is that he he's constantly dealing with the trauma of what his father did to him over his life, and that he from what if I remember correctly, he was undiagnosed on the spectrum, essentially right with the Father, correct

Adam Schomer 52:54
Asperger largely, yeah, and Asperger's just so we're really clear is one far end of the spectrum that is highly verbal, where a lot of times autism isn't as verbal. So there's a lawyer, incredibly verbal, but more of the obsession, fixation, difficulty recognizing emotions when somebody else is uncomfortable, very rational, that that kind of, those kind of, that kind of condition,

Alex Ferrari 53:19
Yeah, and that's, and that's a difficult, I mean, when you don't know what's going on, that's a very difficult human being, especially if they're your parent to deal with. And then this obsession, this amazing obsession that he had with comic books, which, as you go through it, he's not just collecting, you know, comic books. He's buying 2030, issues at a time of the same copy and maintain and maintaining them in near perfect condition. Um, when I, when you when? When you told me about your project and you told me about the collection? It is the mythical collection that every comic book collector in the world would ever want to run into. It is a mint shape, something from the 50s, you know, 60s and up, if not older. Comic books, yeah, 30s, yeah. Some of the books were in the 30s, perfectly minted, sealed off hermetically somewhere in some in some room, you know, climate controlled. That obsession. It's just such a it's, it's a mythical collection, but that's one, that's one layer of it. But this, this other layer of the trauma. And what it cost to have that collection, I think, is one of the biggest, yeah, the cost of that collection on the toll it took on the family, makes you as a collector of things. And I generally don't. I don't collect anything anymore. I've let go of so much. I truly don't have collections of anything. I even sold off my comic book collection, which I still put myself up over. I only kept a handful of my comics the end. But looking at them, I you know, I. I started recently collecting again, you know, just like, oh, you know, I wouldn't mind. And I was wondering. Then after I saw that movie, I was already I was it was so funny, because I had just started up again when you when I found out about you and your film, that what you were doing with the movie. And then I could, then I was fresh in my mind, and we could have this deep conversation about comic books, which apparently you have no understanding about comic books, which is amazing that you made an amazing documentary about comic books. You have no understanding about it, but it made me question, okay, what is it about this? These little books for me? Yeah, and it could be Pokemon cards. It could be baseball cards. It could be it could be cars itself, you know, like classic cars, it could be whatever, yeah. What does that mean to you? What is, what is the emotional connection to them? Because in the case of comic books or any kind of those, like baseball cards or those kind of collectibles, they're just pieces of paper with ink on them. So they're really the value that we the value that that Superman has is a perceived value. All things in life have perceived value. We perceive gold as being a valuable metal. Has been since the beginning of humanity. Essentially, it's always been. You know now people are giving value to Bitcoin, obviously, is doing very well right now. So there's a value, but there's no inherent value other than to the perceiver. So I started to ask myself this deep question. I'm like, what is it about it? And I have to say for me at least, and I'd love to hear what you kind of came up with, and what he came up with, and all the collectors you ran across. It was nostalgia. It was nostalgia of when I picked up that book, or where I was in my life, when I saw that cover, or reading that story, what it did for me at that moment. So I'm gonna bring out my most valuable I brought this onto the show, my most valuable comic book in my in my small collection,

Adam Schomer 57:00
In what, in what way, in what way?

Alex Ferrari 57:02
Valuable, valuable to me and me alone, because it's beat the hell up. This is Amazing Spider Man number six, which is the first appearance of the lizard. For anybody listening who's over the age of us. If this sounds ridiculous, but to me, this book. I bought this book with my father. He bought it for me at a comic book store called tropic comics. I'll never forget it in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, back in the day, it was $2.75 and at the time, I thought this was the coolest thing I've ever had, because it was like one of the early Spider Man's but I could buy it like it was affordable, because it was so, you know, cheap, and it's beat the hell. I mean, anyone looking at it, you could see it's like the covers ripped off and, you know, it's, it's falling apart, and I haven't even had it properly graded yet. I'm going to, just for fun. But to me, when I sold my collection, I pulled this out. I pulled this in, like, maybe another 10 or 15 books out, because they those books had a very emotional attachment. For me. This is invaluable to me. It cost. It means nothing truly. And the scope of what this is worth, I could maybe 100 a couple 100 bucks, if that, if that,

Adam Schomer 58:15
If the character is beyond, like the experience with your father, which is probably the key thing, but he's the lizard character, or anyone like that. No, that means something to you.

Alex Ferrari 58:25
Spider Man. Spider Man does so Spider Man. Spider Man is Spider Man. I've been a collector of spider man since the beginning. So spider man always was a big character that I loved, and I have collected Spider Man, and I've collected of other ones, Hulk and Wolverine and these kind of other kind of characters. But generally speaking, Spider Man's always my go to character. And the lizard means nothing to me, but it's just that this was an original six like, if this was in Mint shape, I think it runs, oh God, it probably be in the 70, 50,000 maybe 40 to $50,000 world. If it was in Mint shape, I might be mistaken. Might be worth more in Mint shape, depending on the condition it's in, because they're so rare. But that book meant so much to me, and I just, and I literally just, I'm, you know, 50 years old, and I'm telling you, I still remember finding it in the store, pulling it out, seeing $2.75 and saying, Dad, can we buy this? And he's like, absolutely. So that's so the nostalgia for me is what connects me. What did you find in your travels?

Adam Schomer 59:26
This is what like fascinates me. Because, yes, it's, it's mostly nostalgia for people. It's mostly some part of a story also. So it might be an experience with the Father, or experience with friends, or then, oh, that's certain story helped me in my life, like Iron Man really helped me deal with bullying. Or that's what I wanted to be. You know, people talk about that. Or some people are just like, Oh, I love the cover. I love that art. You know, the art and but it still doesn't really. Lane. Why? On a monetarily value world, it jumps up so high, like, I get it like, because you don't need the greatest copy to have that vibe. You don't need a 9.0 a mint copy in order to have the nostalgia of that book. You don't need that in order to appreciate the art, even really, and you don't need that to appreciate the story of it. So why is it then that we get a little obsessive, you know? Why is it then that we have to have the best copy, and is it just because it's rare, you know? Like, that's where, to me, it becomes a little more the falsely and perceived and commodity driven world, because there are things that do, do have inherent value, like food you need, right? So there's a value in food, heat, shelter. These things do have value. Gold even is used for certain things where bitcoin is all made up. You know, you know, the dollar, in some ways, is but it's a huge agreement used to be back, backed by gold, in some ways,

Alex Ferrari 1:01:01
That's a whole other podcast.

Adam Schomer 1:01:05
But yes, so I find it fascinating what we value and how we then commodify things. Even homes have gotten a bit commodified. I didn't go as into it as I wanted to. Really in the you know, part of my outline is like, oh, then go into commodities, and what happened to the housing world and and how, you know, once you turn it into a commodity, then people can't even afford to have the thing that that they want, which is a place to live, and now they have to be renders, and even that's too expensive, because everybody else commodified it, meaning big companies came in, right? So I think there's fun things to look at around that even more than I did. But then, you know, to bring it back to Spider Man, one cool thing that some might think is a mistake, but it's not, is at one point we say in episode four, with great responsibility comes great power. Okay? And I know Spider Man is the opposite. With great power comes responsibility, but at that point, we're talking to a philosopher. We're talking about Nietzsche and and the Ubermensch and internal power. Where am I? Where I come from? When you take response great responsibility, then power comes along with it. It's not the other way around. Yes, when you have great power, you should be responsible. But that doesn't always happen. Most people that get a lot of power aren't very responsible with it, but if you take responsibility for life, inherently, you are a more internally powerful being. That's how I see the reverse.

Alex Ferrari 1:02:34
Let me ask you, from your point of view of being a seeker all your life, and you know, making a lot of conscious content in your career. Why do you believe that there is such a fascination with superheroes in our culture? And it's not just the American culture, it's a worldwide culture. There's you'd be you'd be hard to find anybody on the planet who doesn't has not heard of Superman, has not heard of Batman, has not heard of spider man. I mean, even in the in the Himalaya somewhere, I'm sure someone's wearing a Superman t shirt, you know, somewhere along the way, you know, that kind of stuff. So why do you think there is this fascination with superheroes?

Adam Schomer 1:03:12
I think there's a few reasons. One, you know, at least, let's say in America as religion became a little less the driving force in our world, where you had to be a certain religion, and you had more religious freedom and more independence. We still were seeking some kind of Savior. You know, without knowing it, we had that archetype of a savior that we needed to fill in. And I would challenge people to watch out for that and look for that. So the heroes represent, to me, that savior, that good feeling of someone will come and save the day, you know, which, again, I could talk about more, but I think is a problem, very much so, because the moment you keep waiting for a savior, you're giving your power away, you know, talk about a guru to bring it back to the beginning. Oh, the guru is my Savior. He's going to teach me. I'll give him all my power. That's not the way to go. You know, that's not what a real guru would teach the powers within. So I think one, one reason we love superheroes is we just crave a Savior. And if we didn't have religion, we're going to put it into Superman. We're going to put it into some character that has more morality than I do, which is a good thing. Actually, it's a I would say the second reason is we want archetypes that remind us how to the best of ourselves also. So the Savior, okay, not the greatest, but, but we crave it, a role model, you know, the parts of us morally that we'd like to be and like to aspire to. I think that's where the heroes, you know, come in. And then maybe under the third side, we love it because of the fantasy of, oh, I would love, actually, more power, you know. And it's great to think about oh, if I could fly, or if I could do this with a ring, like Green Lantern. That's my guy, Green Lantern. I think those are three reasons. And then you look back in time, you're like, Oh, yeah. Archetypes, of course, just are. There Hanuman in the yoga tradition, as I bring up episode four, he's this all powerful guy like Superman. He really is. And Superman and Hanuman fight in certain cartoons. And then Hanuman rips his chest open, just like Superman. And what's there in his heart is humanity, like, sitaram. It's he's serving the people. And you go, oh. And then here it comes again. Here Superman, he rips open his chest, and what's there? What's he do? You know, S is a symbol of hope, and he's there to give humanity hope and and help humanity. So it's we. We want to know that there's somebody like, kind of fighting for us, I think, on some level, like and on the good side, it helps us have faith and hope. And on the bad side, it makes us maybe wait for a savior rather than taking responsibility. That's my five minute version of why. Why I think, what do you think you've been you've been collecting them for a while. Why do you think you were so drawn to it all

Alex Ferrari 1:05:55
My my stepdad into I remember when I was introduced to comic books. I was in a flea market, and there was a comic guy selling, this is in the early 80s, and he's like, I go, what's that? He goes, Oh, those are comic books. I mean, I was probably first grade, maybe. And it goes, he goes, and he said, Spider Man's my guy. And that was the end for me at the time. He was my stepfather. And I said, Sure, that's the and from that point on, we start collecting. So it was something him and I did early, early, early on. And I still have a few books, not many left from those early days. I don't know how many. I think I sold them off when I sold off the collection. And by the way, that collection was pretty massive. I had like 10, nothing compared to his, of course, in the movie. But I had, like, 12 boxes, 12 long boxes, all high quality, all stuff that I've been collecting. And I used to sell comic books back in the day. Wow. I had an eBay business when I was coming, when I was coming off, almost making a movie for the mob, and I was almost bankrupt. I started a comic book business to try to make money. And it was used to just buy giant collections. And I mean, u haul

Adam Schomer 1:07:06
12 and 12 long boxes. So people know, it's probably 1200 books, more or less,

Alex Ferrari 1:07:11
I give or take, probably around 1200 to 1500 books. But also, those were the creme of the creme of like buying, you know, literally like, u haul fulls of of, like, you know, you I'd buy 200 boxes, 200 long box. So like, 200 by 200,000 and we'd go in there and just hunt and and find things. To me now, thinking about that, I'm like, Huh? Yeah, the hunt is fun. Now. I'm like, Yeah, I don't. I don't have time for that. I don't. I don't like the hunt. I don't want the hunt. I'm not that. I'm not that guy anymore. I did back then. I like to sit there and just like, look for the gem yet. Now I'm like, I would like that one in a nine, six, please. Thank you.

Adam Schomer 1:07:51
Value and values change, right? Yeah,

Alex Ferrari 1:07:54
My time is worth more than that. My you know, I need to spend time with family or work on what I'm doing. But the thing is, it's interesting in the collecting. When I started collecting again, I'm really collecting only things that I find valuable. So it's, it's, it's issues that I would like. Some of them are super valuable, but some of them are really, you know, not that valuable. But I remember the cover, I remember the art, I remember where I was, and I would go and find those, you know, they a few bucks here, a few bucks there. Nothing too crazy, but it's, it's really, it's really fascinating. I Oh, by the way, my the one that got away for me. And then we'll finish up, because I'm geeking out, as you know, the one that

Adam Schomer 1:08:38
You know, we can always ask Darren like, does he have the one? Whatever you say, maybe he has the one that got away.

Alex Ferrari 1:08:45
Darren, well, we'll talk about that off air. But so this is number six. I actually held a Spider Man number one that I never forgot it. It was but the cover was like, even worse than this, probably like, half the like about this. Much of the cover was ripped off, and it was in pretty bad shape, but not, not, not as bad as this. This is a much worse. They were selling it for $45 and I, and I was what I was in sixth grade. I didn't have 45 $45 for me was, you might as well just said a million. Like, I mean, yeah, I just, and I wasn't going to ask my dad or my parents to spend $45 in the late in the late 80s on a comic book like that was, yeah, it's insane. That was an absolute insanity. There was no collectors, really big collectors market. No one understood the value of these things. No one understood any of that. Understood any of that. So it was, it would have just been insane, insane for a working, you know, lower middle class, middle class family to ask for $45 for a comic book and a beat up one, no less, you know, like a super beat up

Adam Schomer 1:09:55
Total one, that would be total speculation, total. Like, yeah. Unnecessary.

Alex Ferrari 1:10:01
So I that's the one that got away from me. I'll never forget that comic was like, Oh, I can't believe I got. I can't, I can't believe I got,

Adam Schomer 1:10:08
And that, technically, is the Amazing Spider Man number one. Is that the type?

Alex Ferrari 1:10:12
Of course, yeah, that's the, basically the second appearance of spider man, not amazing fantasy. That's the first appearance, which is the first appear worth millions. Now, if you have it in good shape, this is the number one Amazing Spider Man, if it was in that. I mean, that's always been any of those first 100 episode issues are like, you know, I that's, I want to collect all of those now, and I'm looking

Adam Schomer 1:10:32
We can talk off area. You know, who knows a lower, lower grade one he has at a certain price point?

Alex Ferrari 1:10:38
Oh, absolutely. Oh, absolutely. We'll have a talk. We'll have a talk, dude. So Adam, where can people watch this amazing documentary series right now? Because it's, it is such a beautiful film, even if you are not a comic book collector, it's a fascinating journey down the rabbit hole of collecting, but it's really about the human story, and that's what I love about this series, agreed.

Adam Schomer 1:10:59
Yeah, you can go on Amazon, you can buy it on Amazon. You can buy it on Apple book and buy it on Google Play. And if you forget the title, I mean, how can you Selling Superman. Because he's selling that Superman number one, which is worth three, maybe $4 million so, yeah, I mean, spoiler. We don't want it. We don't want to, you know whether or not he sells it, yeah,

Alex Ferrari 1:11:21
I don't remember if he sold it or not, but he has been selling, but he has been selling off the collection, little by little. I mean, in chunks,

Adam Schomer 1:11:28
Absolutely, you see, yeah, as you see in the series, he starts selling and partnering with people. And there is a big sale in in the series, and that causes a lot of issues not to, not not to make a comic pun issues, right?

Alex Ferrari 1:11:41
Real quickly. I have to, I have to let everybody know, though, that the book that he's talking about is number one Superman. That's not the first appearance of Superman, but it's the number one of his series. It's still an extremely, obviously valuable book, yes, and it wasn't, it wasn't a case. It wasn't in a sealed, you know, uh, CG comic, yes,

Adam Schomer 1:12:04
When I, when I came across, yes, but Darren's dad never got anything graded, no. So we know, no, no. He was just, he was too afraid. Yeah, Darren got rated and with CGC seal case at a 7.0 so, yeah, go ahead,

Alex Ferrari 1:12:14
Right, and it's what I think the second best issue in his in existence

Adam Schomer 1:12:20
At that time, yeah, there was an eight point there's eight point zeros, there's two eight point zeros, two seven point zeros, but now I believe one of the eight point zeros has become an eight five, but that's a whole nother story on how that can happen.

Alex Ferrari 1:12:30
Yeah, we could get to that later, another day, but, but you had it in your hand when you were filming your your your your little movie, and can you tell the audience what you did with the $3 million comic book, sir?

Adam Schomer 1:12:48
Yeah, again, spoil alert, and I don't think it'll stop people from enjoying the film, but our crew did have a little faux pas with the Superman. It does drop, so you'll see the effect of that, which is great because the whole film series almost fell apart at that point. To be honest, you can imagine you know someone being like, what? Why am I letting you people you know, into my prized possession, my holy grail. And it really did affect Darren, the main character, just about all of it, like, why am I getting rid of this, you know? Why am I Should I slow down, you know? But he didn't want to go into that collective mentality of hoarding. So this is really nice back and forth, that that that US dropping the book helped show so, you know, in retrospect, it was kind of cool that the drop happened. But at the moment, it's, it's insanely painful to drop. I mean,

Alex Ferrari 1:13:44
Oh, I mean, what happened? What happened in the series? My heart's like, I'm getting like, Jill's thinking about it right now, because the value of it in the in this so, I mean, and on top of it, it's not even the money value, it's the attachment to his father, attachment to all this stuff. That's why I brought up all sorts of stuff when he drop it. And then, you know, you have to go get it checked to make sure it wasn't damaged. Did you heard it? It's, it's

Adam Schomer 1:14:13
Because if you, if you, I mean, even people are like, Oh, so you dropped. But if you Nick a little corner in these books, it goes, Oh no, seven to a five. And that's the difference, $2 million and the difference between the one of the best in the world. You know, it's

Alex Ferrari 1:14:25
A good copy. Yeah, exactly. It's it's pretty, pretty remarkable. So where else can they see it?

Adam Schomer 1:14:32
If you want to sellingsuperman.com, has all the links, but Amazon, Apple, Google Play, and then there's a special edition at our website that has the bonus features as well, if you want to dive a little deeper, interview with my father's on there and about how his collection got thrown away when he was a kid too.

Alex Ferrari 1:14:47
Oh, Jesus. Now I'm gonna ask you a few questions. Ask all my guests, sir, what is your definition of living a good life?

Adam Schomer 1:14:58
Oh, my gosh. Oh. God being happy for no reason. You know, if you can, if you can do that and not make happiness contingent, I think you're really on track for a good life.

Alex Ferrari 1:15:10
If you had a chance to go back in time and speak to little Adam, what advice would you give him?

Adam Schomer 1:15:14
My gosh, little Adam, oh, man, I would. God. Would I tell him to not be so shy? Because I was pretty shy as a kid, but you can't just tell someone to not be shy, so I think I would just give him a big hug and be like, keep following your heart, man. You know, you do great, and I'm proud of you,

Alex Ferrari 1:15:36
How do you define God or Source?

Adam Schomer 1:15:39
Maha prana, meaning the great consciousness. All consciousness is how I define God, all consciousness that is communicating at all times to itself I define as God.

Alex Ferrari 1:15:52
What is love?

Adam Schomer 1:15:53
What is love? How many guests have gone into that song, when you say

Alex Ferrari 1:16:01
You're the first, you're the first

Adam Schomer 1:16:02
Am I the first? Oh, Superman one. I'm the valuable. What is love? Oh, love to me, is faith. Okay? Love is so there's no love without faith. So meaning it is absolute surrender. It's absolute knowingness that we are connected. At one point in a Star Wars trilogy, somewhere in the whole universe of Star Wars, they ask him what the force feels like, and he says, Oh, it feels like a loving home, you know, like or something like that, like that, you're just being loved and held. So to me, love is just like knowing that we're all connected and that we're it's everything is totally fine. So it ends up slipping into faith. You know, love is not a contingent thing. It's just faith.

Alex Ferrari 1:16:51
And what is the ultimate purpose of life?

Adam Schomer 1:16:54
I was gonna say to have a Next Level Soul, just to plug your TV station. But purpose of life is to go sign up for Next Level Soul. I think, you know, my intellectual answer is, is, is to evolve and to grow and to become more aware of that world which we are more, maybe more on a deeper level, I think the purpose of at least this life, for me is to to learn how to be happy, to learn how to let go of, you know, angers and resentments and and bring some, you know, teachings and compassion to the world. I feel this is what I would say. The purpose of life is to become like a cove, okay? You know, water always finds the ocean, right? You hear this often, but the oceans scary, big place. So water always finds the ocean. You should feel calm in that, and then you right, but the oceans huge and blue, and, you know, scary and and so then within that ocean, the cove, meaning, like the island that has a beach on which the water can wash upon, and then go out and have an adventure. I feel like, whatever we're talking about, that the Cove is what the purpose might be, yeah, is to become that Cove, that safe place for others to wash upon. And also, you know, the thing that's the island within all of this whole ocean of life.

Alex Ferrari 1:18:25
Yeah, that was very poetic, sir. That was a great answer I've had. I've asked that question a lot on the show. That's one of the more poetic answers to that.

Adam Schomer 1:18:34
That's recent for me, that that realization was recent. I'm like, Oh my gosh, a Cove. That's what I'm that's what I'm really here for to be a Cove. That's, that's all. That's the Beingness. Anyway, yeah.

Alex Ferrari 1:18:45
So if people want to watch, watch the new movie, send Superman, just selling superman.com. I hope everyone will check out Next Level Soul TV and watch the highest pass. The highest pass, Road to Dharma. Or I've put it all into a collection called the sacred Himalayas path to inner peace, which has all of it, plus the two interviews with Anand, and also this interview will be in there as well. So I hope everyone can check that out as well. And do you have any parting messages, sir?

Adam Schomer 1:19:15
No, I just don't I mean that Cove thing, I think was enough. Don't, right, quit while we're ahead brother.

Alex Ferrari 1:19:23
Yeah, I'll agree with you that Adam, and it's always man, it's been such a pleasure having you on the show. Brother, I can't wait to see what you what you come up with next man, you're a fantastic filmmaker. I love the work that you're doing and I love the work that you're putting out into the world. Man, so I appreciate you and everything you're doing to help awaken this planet, brother, thank you again.

Adam Schomer 1:19:42
You got it! God love your courageous heart for making this Next Level Soul TV. Thanks for doing it, man.

Alex Ferrari 1:19:47
Appreciate you, brother.

Adam Schomer 1:19:49
All right.