The term “before” infers that time even exists and that it’s linear, but I do understand what you mean. Before we were born, we existed as personality in a perpetual state of becoming (time is not a requirement for progress). 

Our essence isn’t perfect but compared to the state and limited understanding of mankind one would view personality as all-knowing. You exist as a multidimensional personality at this present moment. You also exist in multiple vibrational levels simultaneously. Similar to a Russian doll where each shell exists in its own dimension, with its own attributes.

Time is an agreed upon collective belief construct that creates the reality you perceive based upon your belief. On other vibrational levels time is not acknowledged to exist and plays absolutely no role in thought or reality creation as everything is instantaneous in the now. There’s no time for time! 😂

Your experiences are directly interpreted by your consciousness and transmitted to your inner/Higher Self along with other experiences that other incarnations are experiencing at this present moment in the now including “past” and “future” incarnations. Since time and space are just belief systems there is no limit to how many incarnations One could be involved in and they all influence each other.

Energy is fundamental, and consciousness is -among other things- energy possessing an awareness. When it is said that we are all one, it should be understood that awareness permeates all reality no matter how simplistic, as awareness exists in all atomic particles and in all vibrational levels throughout creation. What separates “you” from “me” is the structure of this conscious energy and the experience base these structures possess, but experience and progress doesn’t necessitate time or space, it’s just perspective.

So, “where were we before we were born?” Where we are now, in nonphysical reality. We just segregate a portion of our awareness in order to experience an intense range of feelings and emotions in this vibrational level under a veil of forgetfulness. This process does take energy to undergo and to perpetuate. 

When you go to “sleep” you create, alter, and rescind agreements frequently due to the ongoing process of change within yourself. Since freewill is intrinsic to the nature of consciousness anything involving other souls has to be agreed upon by all parties involved. In nonphysical reality this happens instantaneously, but in this simulated reality that we reside in there is time, so a sleep period needs to exist to formulate these agreements. Deja Vu is also a bleed through of these agreements and the scenarios that these agreements will take place in.

These agreements are forgotten about for a few reasons:

One, because the waking conscious mind has trouble reconciling them with accepted belief systems of time and space. As even our language we use to communicate is based on a belief that time and space exist.

Two, the veil is agreed upon to exist to make your reality more immersive allowing a more intense range of feelings and emotions.