My reply is directed more towards the topic, "Who were you before you were born", which can probably also be applied to the second question, "who are you after you are dead", since I imagine, you go back to the same state (depicting the circle, as mentioned in ancient Hindu philosophy, where everything is in one big circle, going from life and then to death, and then being re-born, and so on ...).
My feeling is that the question forces one to contemplate a state how it must be before one is born, a thoughtless uncorrupted state, with no pre-conceptions or ideas, just pure perception, a state of looking out, of observing; before one is born into this world, before one is hypnotized by culture, thought, concepts, ideas - essentially a state of pure being - or to put it in terms of AFL, before one is put into the various "trances".
A number of the ancient philosophers and mystical poets, including Rumi, have mentioned in their writings and poetry, that children are by their vary nature, spiritual. And this maybe because children because of being so young and less exposed to life and the world, are closer to that pure state of being, than an adult who has grown up, learnt, and absorbed the thoughts, ideas, concepts, culture, and most importantly, the artificial limitations the world has taught. Essentially the person has been hypnotized into the trances of the society and world he or she has grown up in.
When one dies, one essentially goes back to that pure state of being, until one is re-born and comes back into this world again.
