To escape the overpowering reality, people invent images and myths, metaphysical and cultural systems, as they provide orientation, even if their "truth" is hardly provable. Guided by this consideration, the philosopher Hans Blumenberg was lifelong interested in certain metaphors that serve as "regulative ideas," giving thought a framework without completely defining it. Metaphors, he believed, form the foundation of the history of ideas. Since 1978, he envisioned his own book on the three "water metaphors" of springs, streams, and icebergs, which he attributed central importance to. He collected extensive materials and evidence in his note boxes, and in his estate, a nearly print-ready text was found, which is published here for the first time. Using numerous examples—from the pre-Socratics to advertising texts.