The Lure of Esotericism

I believe that esoteric practice (ie. Gnosticism, Hermeticism. Qaballah, etc.) is just another form of excessive pride/hubris.  The practitioner believes that he/she has special "secrets" of the gods, which are only entrusted during stages of initiations -- the hoi polloi, of course, not being capable of understanding such things.  BAH! and HUMBUG! I say to that.
Another reason that I look at it with a leery eye is that it has a feel of "dogma" to it.  Most of the esoteric practices of which I am aware arose further to the East and in Egypt.  Some reconstructionists even think that if the ancient polytheist religions were left alone they would have become more neo-Platonic and Hermetic.  I certainly would not have wanted that to happen!
The Mysteria at Eleusis is said to have opened the doors to all this other {redacted}.  Personally, I do not feel that Eleusis was esoteric even though the initiates kept its secrets.  A person did not need to study in order to go through the initiation -- anyone could as long as they could speak Greek.  This sounds like exoteric religion to me.