"yearning for moksha, for release from natural or mental imprisonment"

Quite to the contrary -- moksha is the return to natural, aware childlikeness, back from mental imprisonment of cultural indoctrination.

"one level of reality is supposed to be estranged from another, as when nature’s plurality misleads us and distracts us from our superhuman potential"

Supposed is the key word ...

"the sage is implicitly divorced from duped commoners"

... because, how can a sage be divorced or estranged from anything when they are one with everything?