Borges tells about a group of people, the Sect of the Phoenix, who are sometimes known as people of the secret. These people a parts of every group of society, and reside all over the world. The only thing that unites them is the knowledge of a single secret, passed on through the years from member to member, via the lowest stratum of society. The group has no formal meeting places, nor formal creeds; just the secret that is revealed to all over us without our knowledge, in the form of symbolism. Some speculate that the secret reveals part of God’s master plan.
(Of course, Borges does not reveal the secret in the story—unless he does so in the form of symbolism!)