What is emerson speaking of when he mentions consistency, and why does he berate it as "the hobgoblin of little minds"?

the need to always be consistent.

He believe that A greater mind will always follow their intuition rather than listening to the opinion of the lesser intellectuals. He is saying to not be worried about being consistent with a previous idea because in the pursuit of knowledge, mistakes will keep occurring.

The best answer for this question would be:

That Emerson in the essay "Self-Reliance" truly believed in individualism. He wanted his readers to know that trusting in oneself can go a long way, than blindly following someone’s idea that you don’t actually appreciate. It is important to be misunderstood along the way, because it creates countless of opportunities.