Trust yourself, your intuition and your nature. According to Emerson's Self-Reliance, these qualities are essential to contentment and harmony with oneself. Autonomy is a call for the individual to obey his or her instincts and question tradition and preconceived ideas. According to Emerson, those who are truly self-reliant have the ability to mark their place in history as great and truly creative men. Emerson urges the reader to live according to their instincts and listen to their intuition: “Trust yourself: every heart vibrates for this iron string. Don't be afraid of your original thoughts, trust them and live accordingly. Great men and artists attract us because of their creative nature: “In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts. » If we do not live according to our nature, we are not men. Be bold and courageous in your convictions: “And we are now men, and must accept in the highest spirit the same transcendent destiny; and not stuck in a corner, not cowards fleeing from a revolution, but redeemers and benefactors, pious aspirants to be noble plastic clay under the effort of the Almighty, let us move forward and advance over Chaos and Darkness . Recognize your nature, whether good or bad: “No law can be sacred to me except that of my nature. » Emerson asks the reader to avoid the common pitfalls that tend to hinder man's virtue. Emerson identifies coherence as an enemy of the creative thinker: “A senseless coherence is the hobgoblin of small minds”, “With coherence a great soul simply has nothing to do”. Emerson is not implying that we live erratically, but that we should be introspective about our positions and ideals. We should not take the same position just because it is the one we have always taken. We shouldn't worry about the impression we leave on others: "What I should do is all about me, not what people think." According to Emerson, our inconsistency should be our testimony. Your inconsistent actions will explain to others what you are: “The voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred turns. » Emerson also highlights man's fear of being misunderstood. We often fail to present or discuss our original thoughts and ideas for fear of being misunderstood. Emerson asks, so what? Haven’t all the great innovators been misunderstood? Emerson said: “Misunderstood! It's a stupid word. Is it so bad then to be misunderstood ??