Yes, I completely agree with you.
But this has nothing to do with the ESC key’s behavior.
The problem we suffer is half a bug and half a missing feature: Anytype often doesn’t show the cursor at all.
It’s not simply invisible, but it is nowhere at all!
It also has ended the edit mode.
Best example is opening the page.
Or doing a search and closing the search box.
The cursor is simply nowhere and typing has no effect at all.
For that reason it’s not even possible to jump to the Page’s end by pressing Ctrl + down.
This combination works only if the cursor is somewhere.
I suggest to change your request this way:
“Never hide/disable the cursor in an open Object.”
The cursor should always be somewhere.
If we close the search box in a Page, the cursor should stand in the position of the actual search result in the text.
And also if we use the arrow keys between pictures: the cursor should always be visible and in edit mode - without any need to press any key, or key combination.
It simply should be there, wherever. But it should never disappear completely.
If this is your request, I’m completely with you!