Meeting On The Level - Maybe

The views and opinions of the following are only that, views and opinions. If you’re searching for facts look inside.
Curiosity brings you to the door of Freemasonry, but intuition is what you will need to proceed.
Everything you are about to see, sense, and intuit will come from your lens of perception, formed by your knowledge of comparative philosophies, symbolic interpretations, and ancient mysteries. Deficiencies in any one of these categories will limit your ability to fully interpret what you perceive.
With this in mind it is easy to see how so many project different meanings on the symbolic nature of our craft. One could say that Masonry actually speaks on many levels.
As of late there seems to be a push to take the mystery out of Masonry, to show the public a different face.
Is that even possible?
According to some brothers the only secrets are handshakes and a few secret words, other than that we are a fraternity that gives to charity and enjoys the company of men.
Is that true? Or maybe that just happens to be one of the levels, a level that most seem to reside.
If that were true why the rituals, why allusions to astrological theology, I could go on and on, why?

Hypothetical situation (and more common than you think): imagine an individual hears that Masonry is an organization, a men’s club, created to make good men better men, an organization that meets monthly and contributes to charity, no secrets, no mysteries. One day he decides to petition.
Now, hypothetical, this gentleman although God fearing has a very limited exposure to say alchemical thought, Kabbalah, Enlightenment philosophies, Pythagorean principles, etc. What would his perception be? Assuredly he could only compare to what he sees to what he knows, either that or he sees just what he was told, a charitable organization with no mystery.
In a perfect world this individual might just expand his knowledge and seek the underlining message and thought by expanding his consciousness, he might just seek the greater depth of meaning.
If not, the rest of his life as a Mason he belongs to a fraternity that is all about rituals with no meaning and charity.

Now before you think this is a condemnation against limited awareness, let me state clearly Masonry is a chartable organization. Even on the most basic level Freemasonry does have the ability to make a good man better. I firmly believe it, yet it is the most basic level.