In essence, this quote means that the narrator finds a companion such as a friend or acquaintance to be "a trifle or disturbance" when he is in the midst of contemplating the various facets of nature as "the currents of the Universal Being."

To better understand this quote, it is important to put it into context. It is found in chapter 1 of the essay Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson. This chapter emphasizes the importance of solitude and of going outdoors when contemplating the wonders of nature. Emerson contrasts people using nature for their livelihoods, such as woodcutters and farmers, with poets and children, for whom nature "shines into the eye and the heart." He adds that "the lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood."

To illustrate the spirituality of nature, Emerson describes being in the woods as a transcendental experience. When he is in the woods, "egoism vanishes" and he is "part or particle of God." This is where he adds, "The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign and accidental: to be brothers, to be acquaintances,—master or servant, is then a trifle and a disturbance."

In making this unusual assertion, Emerson is contrasting the uplifting insight he finds while alone in nature with the shallower experience of keeping company with others. Only when he is in solitude can he become "the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty." When he is "in the wilderness" all alone, he experiences something that is spiritually more valuable than he finds "in streets or villages" surrounded by other people.