Is imagination composed of basic building blocks?

I have often wondered if imagination and ideas are composed of basic building blocks like photons that travel at speeds exceeding the speed of light by billions of times. When we think of something - say the outer edges of the universe -- does the image travel to us or do some invisible tendrils of thoughts or imagination travel to touch, measure and formulate them? May be some physicist would provide the answer - or does this fall in the realm of psychology or mysticism? All sciences at their core are one. Hence the search for a unified theory.