Yikes. I'm sure it was a bit of a shock coming through in idle emails about other stuff.

I think it would be nice to say something supportive to your brother; I wonder if it's scary for him to tell you, or if he thinks you already realized all of this. If he's more sensitive he might appreciate some support. (Sounds like this may have been a little while ago, though.)

I've been in that situation before, and I found it was best to just kind of let it percolate. Let the new perspective leak through the system and then go back to look at it and see if it sheds light on other parts of life. Then again, if your brother's being very open right now, you may want to ask him some questions about it.

How are you feeling? Are memories from your childhood popping up more since then? I know you've posted about The Artist's Way (thanks for turning me on to that, by the way!); do you find that you're processing the new information in Morning Pages? Could you do something creative that helps you to express new feelings that are popping up? I'm not a great writer, but writing poems helped when I had this happen. Writing in that format helped me address the new issues without over-analyzing them. Wishing you well.