Oh, absolutely. Sometimes all it takes is a slightly different explanation, maybe from someone who’s better at seeing things from a novice’s point of view. All too often, experts are so at ease with their knowledge that they have a hard time getting down in the mud pit of ignorance where we mortals wallow and giving us a boost up. It can help to read several different explanations of the same subject; sometimes one will just “click”.
In other cases, it’s just a matter of gaining more life experience. I’m probably less “intelligent” now, in my 50s, than when I was in my 20s, but I often find that when I revisit literature or philosophies that seemed quite opaque to me back then, I just “get it” now. That’s a matter of having lived through more, paying attention, and making connections along the way.