I think they come one after the other. My personal analogy is to think of it as learning a new language. First I start to understand the language. But usually there is a translation layer happening. I think in a familiar language and then speak in another. After a while I start to think more and more in the target language and even get ideas and insights in the target language.
The word Grok could be a very interesting way to describe it. Sometimes people watch a movie and get overly affected by a fake thing. It happens a lot more with kids. The first step is to learn that the monsters aren't "real". Later they can learn more about how movies are made.
First we need to learn the dharma in an intellectual sense and over time come to understand it. Since you replied to a comment about programming, I will use that as context. After seeing some basic tutorials on Rust and I understand the basics of what is happening with the code and why it is such a good programming language. If you asked me to write even a simple program that take 50 - 100 lines of code, I would fumble around and not make anything productive. Those who have a better grasp on the language and use it daily will have a very easy time.
RE: As @ahmadmanga pointed out, #Monero experienced a major dip in terms of price & ...