It appears that way for earth spirits anyway. Yes, understanding comes thru experiencing... well, bodily experiences. Via the 5 senses recognized by classical science plus the senses regarded by far too many as pseudoscience. They demand hard, physical evidence and haven't yet figured out how to run em down and tie a string around em. But we're seeing a lot more study being done on the brain where it is clear that “influences” are coming from somewhere besides the 5 common and are being processed in body.