> writing about something loosely and casually revealed to me something that fundamentally changed how I viewed a topic and really consolidated my thinking

You see the same thing in teaching, perhaps even more because of the interactive element. But the dynamic in any case is the same. Ideas exist as a kind of continuous structure in our minds. When you try to distill that into something discrete you're forced to confront lingering incoherence or gaps.

I never learned a subject faster than when I was suddenly forced to teach it!