Thank you for these interesting considerations, Venerable! 
… which lead me to a question for Bhante @sujato: Bhante, in your translation of this passage, both in DN 11 and MN 49, the radiance seems to have disappeared from consciousness. In this essay you are still speaking of a consciousness that is “invisible, infinite, and all-radiant”, but now in your translation, this has been “entirely given up” … why?
DN11:85.18: ‘Viññāṇaṁ anidassanaṁ,
“Consciousness that’s invisible,
DN11:85.19: anantaṁ sabbatopabhaṁ;
infinite, entirely given up:
And the same in MN 49.