A three-dimensional magnetic susceptibility map of an object including a patient placed in a magnetic field is generated from a three-dimensional map of the resonant radio frequency (RF) magnetic flux external to the patient. The magnetic susceptibility of each voxel is determined from the shift of the Larmor frequency due to the presence of the voxel in the magnetizing field. The intensity variation of the transverse RF field over space is used to determine the coordinate location of each voxel. The RF field is the near field which is a dipole that serves as a basis element to form a unique reconstruction. The geometric system function corresponding to a dipole which determines the spatial intensity variations of the RF field is a band-pass for k.sub..rho. =k.sub.z. In the limit, each volume element is reconstructed independently in parallel with all other volume elements such that the scan time is no greater than the nuclear free induction decay (FID) time. With the magnetic susceptibility determined independently (via by the Larmor frequency) from the spatial reconstruction (via the geometric system function), a digital versus analogue reconstruction is possible. With these unique features, the present novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) invention has the potential to generate high resolution, three-dimensional, real-time anatomical images and images based on physiological parameters with little or no deterioration from motion artifact.