I agree to some extent: firstly, “the spirits” are very far from being a homogenous mass, with identical desires and goals, etc.
In addition, some will favour one person over another, whether through service, through past life (or genetic/ancestral) inheritances, or maybe just the stars that person was born under or the nature of his or her personality, so not only are not two spirits exactly alike, neither is their relationship to any two specific humans.
And I also have work, both ongoing and successfully completed, that I don’t share with anyone; I have spirits who’ve told me not to share their names, and workings I’ve been told to not even hint at - in fact I’ve posted on here a few times now that I believe the “hostile observer” is a factor in magick and something to be carefully avoided, hence “And To Be Silent” is commonly known as the fourth power of the sphinx - and not the fourth limitation etc.
So I’m not making a case for everyone posting every last thing in their grimoires and journals, or be considered some kind of weird ideological enemy, because it’s not something I’d ever do myself.
With that said, initiatory traditions that are within, or derived in any way from, the ATRs have all gone through several centuries of having to hide their very existence from the dominant white Judeo-Christian cultures, often on pain of death, which I believe has affected the guidance the spirits give, because their primary concern is the welfare and safety of their initiates.
We had a similar thing, only more successfully annhiliated, when first the Romans then the the Xian church destroyed the indigenous spiritual practices and teachers of the northern European peoples.
So I think that background needs to be factored in, heavily, and when you consider that this is still something large parts of the J/C & Islamic world want to stamp out using lethal force, their insistance on closed orders and a degree of discretion makes more sense.
Then, also, there’s the issue of initiation - within core shamanism, which is a very spirit-led paradigm, the aspirant seeks out (or is offered) initiations of various kinds and these are granted by the spirits - without these initiations, the student remains weak and powerless outside the small area of their own reality, and is unable to effect shifts on the mass-observed reality.
People too timid, too lazy or too fearful to seek these out automatically limit their own scope and power, just as me not wanting to take A-level physics automatically prevented me from ever being eligible to work on the Large Hadron Collider - it’s that simple.
So initiation that’s earned definitely has a major place within that spirit-led path, and that certainly affirms initiatory traditions as being valid, in terms of leading people from the beginning to a place of increased power - power that will neither be sought by, nor available to, all who happen to hear of it.
“Work Ethic”
Magickal power IS self-limiting, depending on what’s described at the foot of this page as the “work ethic” of the student, and the self-knowledge and altered sense of perspective that comes when magickal power increases can act as automatic “policing” factors to prevent certain personality types from ever acquiring real objective power - they tend to go crazy in a spiral of their own delusions.
With that said, what I saw in a prophecy years ago was that the human race had a choice to make: to continue to labour under the old model whereby humans huddle in fear, looking up to their “one true God” and its appointed heirarchy, which would lead to the destruction of this planet as we know it; or to literally seize the power of the gods themselves, primarily through magickal means that grant godlike skills and abilities, as well as changing our world through the understandings and changes that come along with possessing those abilities.
In this possible future (which I believe and am told is now happening) there are going to be tectonic shifts which may, in some ways, create a bit of chaos, as power falls into the hands of those who were previously powerless, and who have every bit of neediness, anger, and bile that state tends to create.
Some people will go crazy and use this stuff to hurt other people, which is probably what happened when we evolved to the point of using objects as tools and weapons; some people will hurt themselves and their loved ones, which is probably what happened when we discovered how to create fire - but overall, the progression will be forwards.
It seems to me that in the past, when any single human displayed some kind of supra-normal ability, no matter what their intention was, they became a centrepoint to be exploited by their hangers-on who rapidly created a cult that enforced rules and the kind of “us and them” thinking that E.A. mentioned in that video.
This often “coincidentally” resulted in the suppression of (or limited access to) the kinds of studies and practices that would permit other people to acquire and surpass those powers, and I think this pattern is the most toxic aspect of the whole deal.
You can be a good Christian who believes Jesus rose from the dead, healed the sick, and turned water into wine, but woe betide you if you dare study astrology, read omens (or create them through divinatory methods) etc. It’s fucked up!
The Key
If the key, as you described it, existed more readily, with open doors and clear explanations that are just out there (especially with the internet now in our lives) then the ability of those who want the power solely for themselves to enact that kind of suppression ceases.
And if the initiatory orders as they stand existed in a mileau whereby spirit contact was a regular thing, attainable through trainings (just like learning a new language or any other life skill), then their ability to inflict superstitious fear, or to decree who may and may not acquire power based on personal grudges etc., would also be diluted, whilst - this is important - not in any way taking away from the fact that true power is earned, and only falls into the hands of those who the spirits favour, and who’ve worked hard to get there.
The truest initiation into any level of power would be (will be) granted through the spirits and no longer a by-product of what social group, nation, or other arbitrary factor someone happens to be born into.
This is surely right and good, and something we all seek for ourselves?
And I hadn’t really though of it this way, but I do agree with E.A. that people who want magick kept secret - as a topic, like I said, I don’t mean necessarily every single working we do - are usually concerned about keeping other people from that power, and are less willing to slam the gates on their own continued education.
This is hilarious because the one thing every spirit I have so far come into contact with has tried to encourage, is the magickal and spiritual education and involvement of the human race, both individually (when I did a lot of healing work) and as a group, across and beyond ethnic and national boundaries.
They might guard some forms of work from those who can’t yet use them as the spirits think best, but overall I’ve never once in my entire life heard a spirit of any kind say to me, “This person should not do anything magickal/occult, let them eat cake and watch soap operas, and never once dare look outside the material realm.”
Risk
Finally, cars - the first ever fatality from a motor car in the UK was a Mrs Bridget Driscoll, and after her death, famously, the coroner told the inquest that he hoped hers would be the last death in this sort of accident.
Knowing what we do now about the increase in road-traffic fatalities in every nation since then, we can only laugh sadly at that comment - and then get in our own cars, assuming that while people die, it won’t be us, and while people kill, it won’t be us - it’ll be some other irresponsible or unskilled asshole. The cognitive disconnect comes about because we want for ourselves the vital freedom and power of being able to get behind the wheel and go where we wish, whenever we wish.
No-one I know who drives would wish, even if it saved thousands of lives per year, for humans to be denied access to motor vehicles, or for licences only to be awarded to some elite group of aristocrats, to save a little inevitable risk from creeping in.
But there’s another aspect to this - both in the UK & USA, after a steep increase to a high in the 1930’s and a similar peak in the 1960’s, road traffic deaths have fallen, on average, year on year.
These dangerous death machines we all selfishly want for ourselves but often assume “other people” can’t handle? “Other people” are getting better at controlling their vehicles, and the overall set-up of our society is making both cars and roads safer, because cars and the risks they bring are part of everyday life, so we vote with our wallets for safer vehicles, better training, better design of junctions, and so on.
The comparison with magick is plain - to hand a tool of power and freedom to people is to accept a risk, but having had that tool ourselves (like everyone who’s posted in this thread), our own actions state that we’ve judged that risk as appropriate for US, and I doubt anyone posting here would like it to be taken away just because a few people get burned - right? 
Tl;dr version - initiations exist for various reasons, and are only completely invalid IMO when they stem from one person getting the power, then slamming the door on the next person coming up behind them.
Magickal power is innately self-limiting in most cases, to what the person is willing to put forwards by way of effort and sacrifice, and often requires the person leave behind dangerous and petty ways of thinking or acting that come from powerlessness.
No spirit has ever told me any human shouldn’t do magick.
People who think access to magickal knowledge is dangerous and should be limited should enact that ban on themselves first and foremost, if they wish to show integrity.
