No. It is an organization with secrets.
It is not a “secret society” with nefarious aims or criminal activities, covered by a coded language.
But it is an organization that needed, at a time in its history, to be discrete. This required some signs to recognize people that could be trusted, at a time when sharing ideas and crossing “party lines” (in term of politics or religion) freely was condemnable.
These signs, rituals and other codes remain, but they are not the true “secrets” of Freemasonry. They are widely available on the Internet, and are only external representations of the facts that some of our teachings are not communicable in any other ways but in experiencing them.
Freemasonry is a pathway of initiation, free from dogma, inspired by the search for truth and an understanding of human consciousness – a science of the spirit. Masonic ritual and symbolism are the tools Freemasons use on that journey, whether this is their personal spiritual path towards the perfection of mankind; to liberty, equality and fraternity – human rights, Le Droit Humain.
The authentic secrets of an authentic Freemasonry cannot be communicated by words or signs: they are experienced in walking the initiatic path to truth.
