Derekh Hashem, Part Three, On the Prophetic Experience

Regarding those learning prophecy: And among that which you need to know is that a prophet surely does not reach the highest level all at once. Rather he climbs level by level, until he reaches complete prophecy. And there is learning in this thing, like in all the other disciplines and crafts in which a man moves up in stages, until he masters it clearly. And this is the matter of the 'sons of the prophets' that would be found in front of prophets to learn what was necessary about the ways of prophecy.