The secret of the Illuminati and why they are identifiable yet unstoppable.

[kılıç_mehmet]

First of all, no rituals contain human bloodshed or beheading chickens.

Really, it does not matter. I'm just stating what I've seen in the media.
It might not be true, as I don't think that such serious and fine people would go through occultic stuff.

And you're not swearing loyalty per se, all you promise to do is to keep certain aspects of the work in the order secret.

Well, that is generally similar to "swearing loyalty". Without loyalty, how can you expect a person to keep the secrets of an order?

At least I am free to leave my order any time I like and I can do so without sacrificing my firstborn son as payment or something similar to it.

I'm hearing this from you for the first time.

Secondly, the rituals are kept a secret, because when you reach the maturity to see the next stage, it will be a revelation of sorts to you.

Friend, I'm not really interested in any rituals. Likewise, when the furia about secret scientology rituals and revelations were released, I was rather disinterested in knowing what they held within themselves.
All I care about is what kind of an influence on the outer world the freemasons have.

It's about the journey you make as human, how you strive to become a better person in order to be of service to those around you. It's about learning something new about yourself in the process. It's about building a good world for ourselves and those around you. It's about hearing ancient kernels of wisdom, meant to be pondered upon.

Sounds great, but really, I really don't know why one would be so secretive about these.

Now, if you would get all the knowledge that one in the higher ranks at once, it would be harder to take in and there would be no journey, no growth. That is why the rituals are secret, not because they are something shady, it's because all can know in the proper time.

I've heard about a certain similar thing in a certain similar, "religion", not a fraternity, maybe, but something newer than freemasonry.