I think there’s a certain sense of achievement when you get to master the skill of sharpening and these skills help you acquire more skills to add to your library of skills ,which you can tap on whenever you need them and makes you into a better problem solver and practitioner.
understanding the processes in hand ,what happens when you cut and when you scrape will help you visualize and approach your sharpening with a purpose and apply the knowledge to the tool in hand.
Mastering the sharpening of gouges and mastering it well,will improve your dexterity which in turn will make you a better woodturner.
I have sharpening jigs too,but spend years sharpening without them.
You will acquire a sixth sense when sharpening,but i think this happens when you know your metals,very basic knowledge of metallurgy,carbon content,normalizing,annealing,hardening and tempering,spark colour when you sharpen,all add to understanding process of sharpening.
I agree you don’t need to go crazy on sharpening stations but invest wisely.I have set of miniature wood turning tools which I made using masonry nails and disposable razor blade handles.Loads of scrapers made of old metalwork files,properly normalized and then re hardened and tempered.....not difficult to do if you equip yourself with some basic understanding metals.