Geir Isene (born 1966) is a Norwegian IT consultant, business coach, writer, and critic of the

Church of Scientology The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a business, or a new religiou ...

. Isene left the Church of Scientology in 2009 after having been a member for 25 years. His turning point came in 2006, shortly after having reached the uppermost spiritual level within the church,

OT VIII OT VIII or OT 8 (Operating Thetan Level 8) is the highest current auditing level in Scientology. OT VIII is known as "Truth Revealed" and was first released to select high-ranking public Scientologists in 1988, two years after the death of Scien ...

, when he met the leader,

David Miscavige David Miscavige (; born April 30, 1960) is an American Scientologist who is serving as the second and current leader of the Church of Scientology. His official title within the organization is Chairman of the Board of the Religious Technology ...

. He released his autobiography, ''Nineteen Eighty-Four, My Journey Into Scientology's Innermost Secrets - And Out Again'' on September 18, 2013, in which he reveals details about the secret OT levels. Isene is known as an

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

advocate, a public speaker, coach and blogger.

Scientology

Isene joined Scientology in 1984 and left on 7 August 2009 after 25 years. He had become Norway's foremost Scientologist by rising to

in 2006, the highest level, making him a significant Scientologist internationally. He met Scientology-leader

several times and found him arrogant, impetuous, presumptuous and rude. Isene cited issues with Church of Scientology management as his primary contention, and especially highlighted the high-pressure tactics in mandatory meetings requiring large donations "for nothing". It took Isene two years of extensive researching and evaluating before deciding to leave, and when he did the Church pressured two of his employees (who were Scientologists) to leave his company, and about 25 Scientologist friends disconnected from him. Isene was one of three OT VIIIs who left that year. At first he declared he would remain a Scientologist though no longer be affiliated with the Church of Scientology, but just two years later declared he was no longer a Scientologist. Isene is the only person having reached OT VIII who has released a book detailing his journey into and out of

Scientology Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by the American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It is variously defined as a scam, a Scientology as a business, business, a cult, or a religion. Hubbard initially develo ...

Career

Isene is an IT entrepreneur, who previously led several recruiting, consulting and IT companies including U-MAN Norge ( WISE-affiliated), Creo Pario AS, and . Isene has been the leader of

Abelia ''Abelia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae. The genus currently includes six species native to China, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The genus previously contained about 30 species and hybrids. Molecular phylogen ...

, an association for technology and knowledge companies in Norway. He founded the software company in 2004, and operated it until 2012, and in 2008 was awarded the Oslo Municipality's Entrepreneur Award for "promoting open innovation and value sharing... and taking social responsibility with its social commitment". FreeCode was "based on open source code, and provided training, consulting, software, development, implementation, operation and support." In 2012, Isene and Brendan Martin started the

business coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

Scientology

Career

Autobiography

Notes

References

External links

See also