After quite some time, and actually after reading this post[0], I took another look at GNU Texmacs, this time with a little more depth and patience. And indeed, the program is an incredibly powerful tool for creating beautiful documents. I'm also currently on a roll where I'm reappreciating the philosophical advantages of WYSIWYG. Anyway, for me it's definitely an insider tip for anyone who is annoyed by LaTeX and is open enough to try WYSWYG.

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47152982

To save people’s time: this thing is not LaTeX and you won’t be able to use any of the LaTeX packages that you need if you are preparing a manuscript for a journal (for example).