yeah, gosh they are interesting aren’t they? they seem to be directly contrasted with the 8 liberations, but they seem to overlap in terms of the formless spheres.
Perhaps the idea is that the first sequence is a kind of hierarchy of philosophical insight while the second is a hierarchy of meditative experience…
It certainly lends a bit to the idea that the gratification danger escape might be more of a conceptual apperatus and thus linked to the pannavimutti, which I guess might lean towards what @Vaddha is saying?
tbh I have kind of run out of puff, extra shifts at work, kids up for the weekend, so much fascinating reading here, I have just lost the mental mojo to keep it up, will have to take a break and refresh and then get back into it.