During the course of my studies, I am frequently amazed at the amount of anti-Masonic materials I come across; all one needs to do is type in "anti Freemasonry" or "Freemasonry Secrets" into a Google search to be confronted with millions of web pages decrying the Craft.  In fact, a cursory Google search of "Freemasonry secrets" at the time of publishing yields 1,740,000 results.

Now seeing as I have not yet received my degrees, I have been cautious to visit any of these sites for fear of ruining my experiences.  In addition, I have been told that many of these sources do not present the true secrets of Masonry and instead substitute their own radically demented accounts of an entity they have never even been a part of.  Truth be told, if Freemasonry was in reality a secret society hellbent on world domination, they sure do a horrible job of keeping quiet about their existence and meeting places...

Perhaps it's my esoteric side speaking, but I believe no one should undertake anything without first learning the truth behind it - or at least trying their damnedest to.  For me this doctrine even extends to my religion; I don't believe in blindly following the Bible without first taking into account the fallibility of the men who transcribed it - a theme which I will touch on later.  We must never forget the true value of knowledge for through it we learn that all things are possible; even in the face of great evils or oppression, no matter how powerful the aggressor, they may never divest us of what we know - a fact alluded to by one of Freemasonry's most famous Brothers:

If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest." 
Benjamin Franklin